STAIRWAY
TO
THE
STARS
a film by Lorenzo DeStefano
Westshire Films is pleased to share with you our brand new TEASER (1:20) for “STAIRWAY TO THE STARS”.
Edited by Steve Aguilar, this is a short preview of our film, featuring Erik Satie’s famous composition, “Gymnopedie 1”,
performed by our film’s composer, Rachel Flowers.
We hope you enjoy this first look at the new short film by writer/director Lorenzo DeStefano,
coming soon for a 2022 Film Festival & Streaming release.
In a mythical place called
H O L L Y W O O D
where dreams of Fame and Fortune come and go
the only real thing left
is Friendship
TIME – The Present
PLACE – The Hollywood Hills
CAST
LAVERGNE, a Woman of a Certain Age
TONY, a Heavy-Set Young Man
One hot, smoggy afternoon, LAVERGNE,
an aging actress on the verge of physical and mental collapse,
attempts to climb an absurdly steep flight of stairs in the Hollywood Hills,
goaded on by TONY, a young gay man of blind ambition & ample proportions,
who has vowed to save her life.
Starring
SEAN YOUNG as “Lavergne”
&
QUINTON AARON as “Tony”
Westshire Films is extremely pleased to announce that SEAN YOUNG and QUINTON AARON
have completed their roles as “Lavergne” and “Tony” in “STAIRWAY TO THE STARS“,
a new narrative short film from award-winning writer/director Lorenzo DeStefano
(“Talmage Farlow”, “Los Zafiros-Music From The Edge of Time”, “Hearing is Believing”, “Shipment Day”, “The Diarist“).
Sean Young is known for her performances in Stripes, Blade Runner, Dune, No Way Out, Wall Street, Cousins, Fatal Instinct, A Kiss Before Dying, and Ace Ventura: Pet Detective.
Quinton Aaron, star of “The Blind Side”, “Halfway”, has made notable appearances in “Be Kind Rewind”, “Traded”, “Rock Paper Dead”, and numerous film & television projects.
Filmed in early October 2021 in Los Angeles for an early 2022 international Film Festival & Streaming release,
“STAIRWAY TO THE STARS” takes place on a steep flight of outdoor stairs in the Hollywood Hills.
Central to the film is the love hate relationship between Lavergne, an aging White actress on the verge of physical and mental collapse,
and Tony, a young Black man of blind ambition & ample proportions who has vowed to save her life.
Goaded on by Tony to get her life together and restore what’s left of her failing health,
the complex relationship between this oddest of odd couples is humorous, tragic and deeply touching,
gradually revealing itself between the bottom of the stairs and the top.
Lavergne and Tony are friends who are enemies and enemies who are friends.
Their heated emotional and physical encounter is mined by the filmmakers for its maximum seriocomic potential.
The film is based on a real incident witnessed by DeStefano when he first moved to Hollywood from Honolulu.
His first place in L.A. was an attic apartment in Beachwood Canyon, in the shadow of the fabled Hollywood sign.
There was an incredibly steep flight of stairs next to the house, one of many still existing in the movie capital of old.
One afternoon Lorenzo heard, through an adjacent window, an elderly woman and a very large young man berating each other as they climbed.
As writers do Lorenzo eavesdropped on this highly-charged exchange. When the two were out of range Lorenzo hurried to his desk and wrote it all down.
In doing so he captured their complex relationship, humorous, tragic and deeply touching, as it gradually reveals itself between the bottom of the stairs and the top.
DeStefano’s One-Act play about Lavergne and Tony was first produced at PlayBuilders of Hawai’i in 2019.
His film is a tribute to Nathanael West’s “Day of the Locust”, the plays of Samuel Beckett, and to the countless two-reel comedies shot in these very hills over 100 years ago.
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Westshire Films and award-winning writer/director Lorenzo DeStefano have completed production on
“Stairway To The Stars”.
Filming took place in early October, 2021 in Los Angeles. The 4 day shoot, fiscally sponsored by From
The Heart Productions (www.fromtheheartproductions.com),
took place on several Los Angeles locations, principally a set of steep outdoor stairs in the Hollywood Hills.
DeStefano and his filmmaking team are very pleased to have returned to production after so many months of uncertainty.
Their efforts and those of other committed filmmakers all over the world strive to get us back in the business
of telling great stories
and bringing people together in the dark, where stories that shed light on the human condition can be shared
and appreciated.
Short films are undergoing a real renaissance. Recognized and celebrated by numerous international film
festivals and award-giving entities,
this genre has evolved into a powerful and audience-friendly genre unto itself. Opportunities for international
streaming & broadcast distribution
have also improved exponentially in the past few years, reflecting a growing appetite and demand for high-
quality, compelling stories.
With our strong cast, unique characters, high-profile locations, and compelling narrative, our film aims to
secure prestigious film festival screenings and distribution and will be marketed internationally to all available sales, distribution, exhibition and social media platforms.
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“STAIRWAY TO THE STARS”
FUNDRAISING CAMPAIGN UNDERWAY
https://stairwaytothestars.wedid.it/campaigns/10129-please-support-stairway-to-the-stars
A crowdfunding campaign under fiscal sponsorship of From The Heart Productions, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization,
is accepting tax-deductible contributions on WeDid.it (https://stairwaytothestars.wedid.it/campaigns/9578-please-support-stairway-to-the-stars).
Please consider joining those who have already donated in exchange for onscreen thanks, rewards from Westshire Films,
and several options for Producing Credits on “Stairway To The Stars”.
=============================================
“STAIRWAY TO THE STARS”
Starring
Sean Young as “Lavergne”
Quinton Aaron as “Tony”
Featuring
Thomas Austin Beaumont as “Tommy B.”
Keith Lewis as “Stud with Bike”
Written, Produced & Directed by Lorenzo DeStefano
Executive Producers – Rick Rosenthal, Randell J. Brasher, Carole Joyce
Line Producer / 1st Asst. Director – Andis Solomon
Casting Director – Donna McKenna CSA
Director of Photography – Jonathan Hall
Edited by Monroe Robertson
Music Composed & Performed by Rachel Flowers
=============================================
WESTSHIRE FILMS
P.O. BOX 2063
VENTURA, CA. 93002
info@stairwaytothestarsfilm.com
www.stairwaytothestarsfilm.com
www.facebook.com/pg/Stairway-to-the-Stars-586330618549435/
© / all rights reserved Lorenzo DeStefano / Westshire Films