Fleiss, left, and Read, right, play half-brothers bent on getting in trouble in "Double Parked"

January 28, 2000
Web posted at: 4:38 p.m. EST (2138 GMT)

By Jamie Allen
CNN Interactive Senior Writer

PARK CITY, Utah (CNN) -- Stephen Kinsella is basking in the afterglow of his Slamdance movie, "Double Parked." The film premiered the day before in a screening room at Slamdance headquarters on Main Street in Park City. Now Kinsella is sitting in a room at Shadow Ridge Lodge, recalling the immediate reaction from those who were there.

"After the first screening, there were a few people coming up and crying and thanking us," says Kinsella, who directed and co-wrote the film with Paul Solberg. "It hits a nerve with a lot of people."

The movie, three years in the making, tells the story of Rita Ronaldi, a single mother who, while struggling to find gainful employment as a meter maid, attempts to shield her adolescent son, Matt, from an abusive father she walked out on. The father, however, revisits their lives with another son he has raised to be a pot-smoking criminal. The movie stars Rufus Read, Noah Fleiss and Callie Thorne (Det. Laura Ballard on the now-defunct TV series "Homicide: Life on the Street").

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"I have a really soft spot for single, working-class women," says Kinsella. "My mom was divorced and raised my sister and me by herself. My father would come in and out, but he wasn't around much."

Thorne, who plays Ronaldi, says she related to the script, as well.

"My mother for several years was a struggling, young single mother with me," says Thorne. "I drew so much from her. When I first read the script, I kept thinking about my mom and I got very emotional, but in a really good way."

'So much honesty'

The movie has received strong buzz at Slamdance, the alterna-fest to Sundance in Park City. Kinsella says several distributors have spoken to him, though none have offered a deal yet. He plans to show it at other festivals, hoping to raise more interest. He believes in the power of the story, and the performances of his actors.

"Double Parked"

Kinsella makes a point to highlight the job done by Fleiss, who plays the troubled half-brother to Matt.

"After seeing 200 boys audition, he walked through the door and his acting and his choices and his realism was just right on and he was a master at such a young age," says Kinsella. "He was so fresh and real and right in the moment all the time. Noah comes from a pretty well-balanced family, and what he brought to this character, he just has a great imagination."

"And so much honesty," Thorne says of Fleiss. "People go to school for years and years to get that kind of honesty."

Fleiss, the 15-year-old who can also be seen in the upcoming United Artists release "Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her," says he added some juvenile offender lingo to the script, but was impressed with the story.

"I threw a couple adjectives and nouns in there that were a little fresher," he says. "But the gist of what I had to say and what the other kids had to say was right on point."

'No maternal instincts whatsoever'

Callie Thorne, right, plays a struggling mother looking for work as a meter maid.

"Double Parked" plays on a number of themes, including the effects of love and abuse. Thorne's character is the kind of mother who's not only trying to hold it all together, but give her son the best world possible. She's the kind of woman who's so insecure she believes a wig will benefit her appearance. (It doesn't.) In fact, her one security in her life is her boy (played by Read), but even that relationship is tested when he engages in petty crimes with his half-brother.

Thorne is convincing in her role, even though she claims to have "no maternal instincts whatsoever."

"It really was the main reason I wanted to do that movie because, since I don't experience it in my own life, I really wanted to take that jump and go through that adventure or that connection between mother and son," she says.

Like many people who see the film, Thorne found herself getting misty during the movie.

"I was so scared that people were going to be like, 'Oh, there's the actress crying at her own movie,'" she laughs. "But it really hit home."