Feiffer ’07 Is Star and Co-Writer of Comic Film Shown at Slamdance

Halley Feiffer ’07 is the star and co-writer (with Ryan Spahn) of the feature film of He’s Way More Famous Than You, which premiered in the dramatic competition at the Slamdance Film Festival in Park City, Utah in January.

The film is directed by Michael Urie, the star of Ugly Betty and Partners, and co-stars Urie, Spahn, Jessie Eisenberg (with whom Feiffer appeared in The Squid and the Whale), Natasha Lyonne, Mammie Gummer, Tracee Chimo, and Ralph Macchio.

Feiffer plays a struggling actress will stop at nothing to get her movie made in this sharp, satiric comedy about the film industry, which features some absurdist moments and a brave lead performance.

After being shown at the festival, the film was acquired by Gravitas Ventures. Plans are to show the film on VOD (video on demand) beginning April 8 followed by a theatrical run on May 10.

Feiffer sent a dispatch to Cinema Blend about her experiences while at Slamdance:

She wrote: “When I wrote the film with my friend Ryan Spahn, it felt very clear to us that we were writing a parody of our younger selves—two self-absorbed, insecure actors trying desperately to throw themselves against every wall, hoping something will stick. ‘Hahahaha!’ we thought – ‘It’s so funny how sad we used to be! And how not like that we are, now!’

“And yet, here I am in Park City, trying to drum up interest for my film amidst the avalanche of press being generated for the literally hundreds of other films being screened here, and suddenly it seems so tempting to let myself become that character I wrote again. Walking down Main Street here feels to a film fan how walking through Times Square must feel to a tourist, his first time in New York—everywhere you look there is something mind-blowingly exciting and so glittery and high-octane that it almost hurts to think about it.”

In an early review of the film at Twitch, Ben Umstead wrote: “The self-referencing and meta humor comes thick and fast, the cavalcade of A-listers, B-listers, and all the way down to Z-listers, comes stampeding in, game to blow up their egos with either cartoonish glee or straight-man sobriety. … He’s Way More Famous Than You does what it needs to do to make its audience happy. It makes them laugh. Quite a lot.”