The Ridgefield Playhouse Film Society · Lost and Found Film Series The Jimmy Show Q&A with Director/Actor Frank Whaley Hosted by Emmy Award television journalists, Ira Joe Fisher and Morton Dean. Director/Actor/Writer Frank Whaley’s The Jimmy Show debuted at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival, receiving rave reviews for “it’s brave and uncompromising portrayal of a man in search of meaning in his simple life” and “for its brash originality and daring in etching a portrait of a man who refuses to take life’s disappointments lying down.” Jimmy O’Brien (Frank Whaley) lives in New Jersey with his wife (Carla Gugino) and invalid grandmother. He is reminded of his powerlessness and isolation every day at his thankless job at a grocery store.  His feelings of alienation are relieved when he begins a foray into stand up comedy at open mic nights littered across the suburban New Jersey sprawl. It’s here that Frank Whaley’s filmmaking and performance are at their bravest. In a series of intensely distilled monologues, Jimmy recounts the ironies of his life with the precision and cool gaze of a medical examiner. Whaley is riveting in these scenes, world weary with the vision of a man four times his age but alive with the exhilaration of Jimmy’s venomous few minutes in the spotlight. In the end, fate deals a hand and sets up a new enigma: does Jimmy have what it takes to deal with freedom? It’s a welcome tonic. Following his revelatory directorial feature film debut with Joe The King, Frank Whaley’s second film The Jimmy Show established him as one of American independent film’s most resounding voices. Since his acclaimed acting debut opposite Meryl Streep and Jack Nicholson in 1987’s Ironweed, Frank Whaley has appeared in over sixty films which include: Pulp Fiction, Field of Dreams, Swimming With Sharks, Swing Kids, Career Opportunities, Born on the Fourth of July, The Doors, Broken Arrow, J.F.K., Red Dragon, School of Rock, World Trade Center, The Freshman, Hoffa, and most recently Vacancy, As Good As Dead, and Janie Jones among others. Frank’s writing and directing debut Joe The King earned him the coveted screenwriting prize at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival.  His next film Like Sunday, Like Rain begins production in the spring of 2013.Ticket Price Adults $10 · Seniors $7.50 · Students $5 *Please call box office to purchase Senior or Student tickets!! (203) 438-5795