Hopwood DePree
In this independent romantic comedy, Tyler (Casey Peterson) is a thirty-something musician living in San Francisco's North Beach, while his girlfriend Paige (Jennifer Milmore) lives only a few blocks away. While Tyler loves Paige, he's more easily tempted than he ought to be, and when he meets a 19-year-old exotic dancer from New Orleans after a gig one night, his self-control fails him and he ends up sleeping with her. The next morning, Tyler discovers, to his horror, that everyone in the neighborhood seems to know about his indiscretion, and he desperately tries to get to Paige before she hears the news. After he learns that he's too late -- and Paige has made plans with someone else for the evening -- Tyler hatches a plan to creatively ruin her date in hopes that she might give him another chance. North Beach was the first feature film for the directing team of Jed Mortenson and Richard Speight Jr.; leading man Casey Peterson also wrote the film's screenplay. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Casey Peterson, Jennifer Milmore, (more)
- 1999
Leed VanderWal (played by Hopwood DePree) is a young man poised to assume a key role in his family's dynasty -- he's supposed to inherit Windmill Island, a slowly-decaying tourist trap in Holland, Michigan where visitors can witness an "authentic" recreation of a 17th century Dutch village. Windmill Island's attractions include a squad of clog dancers in traditional costumes, a cheese shop complete with an artificial cow kids can "milk" and a gift shop with hand-dipped candles and traditional footwear. Leed has already put in a few years at Windmill Village and is wondering if he wants to devote the rest of his life to propping up a decaying dream or if he should move to Detroit to make a new start. Leed also finds himself falling for Chrissy (Christine Elise), a girl from the city spending some time at the family's summer cottage, which aggravates his buddy Christopher (Richard Speight Jr.) and sparks jealousy in Winnie (Victoria Haas), a plain girl from Wisconsin with a crush on Leed and dreams of rising from the cheese shop into the stellar ranks of the clog dancers. Shot for a mere $60,000 by actor, writer and first-time director Hopwood DePree, The Last Big Attraction was a multiple prize winner at the 1999 Newport Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hopwood DePree, Christine Elise, (more)
