Public Servant Lifestyle

A romantic comedy/girl buddy movie, starring Toni Collette and Nia Vardalos, with the X-Files’ David Duchovny.

Connie and Carla

Connie (played by Nia Vardalos) and Carla (Toni Collette) are two small-town girls whose dreams of stardom have taken them nowhere.

From their debut in a school cafeteria to their current gig slinging drinks and belting out tunes at a Midwestern airport lounge, the singing and dancing duo simply refuse to let the less-than-enthusiastic crowd response dampen their show biz drive. For Connie and Carla, everything’s coming up roses, nay saying boyfriends and snoring audience members notwithstanding.

The girls lose one of their few supporters when their boss Frank ends up on the wrong end of a criminal deal - a scene they unfortunately happen to witness. Quicker than a fast change in the second act, the eponymous Connie and Carla pack up their battered dreams and extensive assortment of wigs and costumes and hit the road, running for their lives.

L.A.

Convinced the killers will never look for them in a place utterly devoid of culture (a.k.a. dinner theatre); the pair ends up in the Land of Dreamers: Los Angeles. In a new place with new identities, they create a cover (with a lot of cover-up) that makes them the toast of the town - headlining in a local drag club, they soon find the acclaim that has always eluded them, singing the show tunes they’ve always loved.

Being famous is their dream come true - who cares if it includes a tiny little lie? - but trying to keep their secret turns out to be a real drag, especially when Connie meets Jeff (played by David Duchovny), a real nice guy she’d really like to be a real girl with.

Connie and Carla is the comedy that proves if you follow your dream, there’s no telling what you’ll become.

Nia Vardalos, the Oscar-nominated writer and star of My Big Fat Greek Wedding, the highest grossing romantic comedy and independent film of all time and the fifth highest grossing film of 2002, follows up that smash hit with the new comedy Connie and Carla, again in double roles as both screenwriter and star (as well as executive-producing).

My Big Fat Greek Wedding

Starring alongside Vardalos is Academy Award and Tony nominee Toni Collette (About a Boy, The Sixth Sense), both of whom are joined by a multifaceted cast that includes Stephen Spinella (Tony winner for Broadway’s mini-series Angels in America), Dash Mihok (Baz Luhrmann’s William Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet), Alec Mapa (Broadway’s M. Butterfly) and David Duchovny (Evolution, Twin Peaks, The X Files).

Heading the team bringing Vardalos’ script to the screen is television comedy veteran Michael Lembeck, who scored a hit with his feature film directorial debut, The Santa Clause 2. Spyglass Entertainment’s (Seabiscuit, Bruce Almighty, and The Sixth Sense), Roger Birnbaum, Gary Barber and Jonathan Glickman serve as producers. Vardalos, Rita Wilson (My Big Fat Greek Wedding) and Peter Safran (My Baby’s Daddy) serve as executive producers, with Warren Carr (TNT’s Door to Door) co-producing.

Charged with creating the manic world of women pretending to be men pretending to be women is a list of behind-the-camera talent that includes director of photography Richard Greatrex, B.S.C. (Oscar-nominated for Shakespeare in Love); production designer Jasna Stefanovic (the Jessica Alba starring Honey); film editor David Finfer (The Santa Clause 2); costume designer Ruth Myers (two-time Oscar nominee for Emma and The Addams Family); and composer Randy Edelman (The Whole Nine Yards).

Connie and Carla is out now on DVD.

More information available in Humour, DVD / Home Video