70 THE QUEENS COURIER • BUZZ • SEPTEMBER 25, 2014 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.queenscourier.com buzz Middle Village, local 10-year-old featured in soon-to-be-released movie BY CRISTABELLE TUMOLA ctumola@queenscourier.com @CristabelleT Middle Village is ready for its closeup. The neighborhood is the backdrop for a soon-to-be-released fi lm focusing on an ex-mafi a captain (“capo”) as he comes to grips with how his former life has changed after spending the last 20 years in federal prison. The movie also features a 10-year-old actress from the neighborhood, Olivia Panepinto, in her debut role. Director, writer and producer David Rodriguez was inspired to make “Once Upon a Time in Queens” after seeing a program on the Investigation Discovery channel about an FBI agent who went undercover in the Gambino crime family in the Bronx. There was one member who was recently released from prison and came home to reclaim his old rackets, but most of the people from his former mob life were dead, in prison or informants. “In his mind it was still the early 90s ... where you could still survive in this world and be untouchable, and what he didn’t realize was that it was the opposite,” Local 10-year-old Olivia Panepinto during a scene at a Middle Village deli with actor Michael Rapaport (far right) in “Once Upon a Time in Queens.” BACK TO SCHOOL SPECIAL ONSITE DOCTORS • EYE EXAMS • CONTACTS • 1 HOUR SERVICE • VISION PLANS ACCEPTED • SUNGLASSES • LOWEST PRICES FLEX SPENDING Use it or lose it! 2 PAIR OF EYEGLASSES QC QC QC $99 Includes: EYE EXAM, Frames & Lenses Select frames with clear plastic, single vision lenses+/- 4 sph., 2 cyl. Not valid with any other offers, sales, vision plans or packages. Must present prior to purchase. Offer valid at this location only. Offer ends: 10/31/14 NO-LINE BIFOCAL EYEGLASSES $99 Includes: EYE EXAM, No-Line Bifocal Lenses & Frame Select frame with select clear plastic no-line bifocal lenses +/- 4 sph., 2 cyl up to 2.50 add. Not valid with any other offers, sales, vision plans or packages. Must present prior to purchase. Offer valid at this location only. Offer ends: 10/31/14 BAY TERRACE SHOPPING CENTER 211-51 26 AVENUE • BAYSIDE, NY 11360 718.631.3699 *FREE with the purchase of glasses. Contact Lens Exam and EYE EXAM tting add’l. *See store for details. QC DISPOSABLE CONTACTS $99 Includes: •EYE EXAM •2 Boxes of Lenses Contact Lens Fitting additional. Clear Soft contacts brand clear spherical lenses.Not Valid with any other offers, sales, vision plans or packages. Must present prior to purchase. Offer ends: 10/31/14 DESIGNER SUNGLASSES st STARTING AT $99 QC of the 2013 THE QUEENS QueensCourier.com Place Some Restrictions Apply. See Store For Details. In Stock Items Only. Not Valid with any other offers, sales, vision plans or packages. Must present prior to purchase. Offer expires: 10/31/14 Rodriguez said. In the fi lm, Paul Sorvino plays Joseph Scoleri, who was sent away for racketeering and conspiracy to commit murder. After his release, he goes to live at his Middle Village home, with his 43-year-old daughter Rita (Renee Props). In addition to leaving his gangster lifestyle behind and being forbidden to speak to former associates, Scoleri must reestablish his relationship with his daughter and come to terms with how she has been living her life. He also becomes reacquainted with his neighbor Bobby DiBianco, played by Michael Rapaport, whom he last saw as a teenager. Bobby now has a family of his own and runs his father’s deli, and agrees to help run errands for the ailing Scoleri. The character represents a progressive, professional lifestyle, instead of a wannabe gangster, according to Rodriguez. “He speaks to Scoleri like nobody has ever spoken to him,” Rodriguez said. “That is another shocker to him.” Part of Bobby’s family man image is his daughter Liv, played by Olivia. The current fi fth-grader landed the part after three impressive auditions. She was so good that her part was changed from a boy to a girl. “She really knocked it out of the park in the audition,” Rodriguez said. The part was also changed to make the fi lm less male-centric and more heartfelt. Olivia’s dream of acting started at 2 years old when she was watching TV and asked, “How can I be in the box?” After a trip to LA where she visited the Hollywood Walk of Fame and asked her parents how she could “get one of those stars,” Olivia started taking acting lessons, and landed her fi rst part in “Once Upon a Time in Queens.” “It was like my dream come true,” she said. “It was even more cool that we shot it in my neighborhood.” Filming was somewhat challenging, but mostly fun, Olivia said, especially when Sorvino would sing opera between takes. The young actress has also appeared in a web show called “Mona in Manhattan” with her older sisters, Alessandra, 14, and Emmanuela, 12, and will be fi lming a movie with them in LA this January called “Marilyn Monroe Zombie Hunter.” Olivia’s father Ignazio was also involved in “Once Upon a Time in Queens,” receiving a co-executive producer credit for helping fi nd most the locations for the fi lm, which was mainly shot in Middle Village and Ridgewood. Some scenes were fi lmed at Juniper Valley Park and Village Gourmet on Eliot Avenue, a stand-in for Bobby’s deli. Though the fi lm was shown at several fi lm festivals around the country last year, including the 2013 Austin Film Festival, its offi cial premiere, with its new name, took place on Sept. 24 in the East Village. In February, Lionsgate purchased the movie, which was originally called “Last I Heard,” and renamed it “Once Upon a Time in Queens.” It also will have an LA premiere on Sept. 25, which will be followed by a seven-day theatrical run in the city. On Nov. 11 it will be available on DVD, iTunes, Netfl ix and Amazon Instant Video. Rodriguez hopes audiences “see the fi lm for what it is.” “I don’t want people to see the movie and think it’s a mob movie,” he said. “It’s a slice of New York life.” Photos by Kelsey Bennett Olivia in a scene with Paul Sorvino. Middle Village resident and fi fth-grader Olivia Panepinto landed her fi rst acting role in “Once Upon a Time in Queens.”
QC09252014
To see the actual publication please follow the link above