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‘American Summer’ Premieres in East Hampton With Steve Guttenberg, Christie Brinkley and a Story About What Still Matters
Steve Guttenberg talks career, family, and the values that never go out of style as the coming-of-age film makes its world premiere in East Hampton ahead of its Sept. 4 theatrical release.
It was a gray, misty Tuesday night in East Hampton, but just off Main Street, the alleyway beside Regal UA East Hampton was buzzing with a rousing red carpet, flashing press lights and Hollywood star power.
Steve Guttenberg (Police Academy, Three Men and a Baby, Cocoon) and Christie Brinkley (National Lampoon’s Vacation) arrived on Sept. 1, for the world premiere of American Summer, a new coming-of-age film that is, dare we say, “wholesome” entertainment — a multigenerational “family film, ” so rare these days.
They were joined by writer-director Michael W. Gray, members of the cast, the producing team, and friends and family. Brinkley’s daughter Alexa Ray Joel — fresh off a sold-out show at the Stephen Talkhouse — and her son Jack Brinkley-Cook, posed with their mom, while media legend Bill Boggs and TV host and animal rights activist Jill Rappaport offered warm hugs of support.
And then there was Noodle, the canine star of the film, who stole the red carpet show (and plays a key role in the movie).
The East Hampton screening came just days before American Summer opens in limited theaters Friday, Sept. 4, with Blue Harbor Entertainment handling its U.S. theatrical release.
Much like the movie, the mood was simple, down-home, feel-good love all around.
Guttenberg plays present-day Mikey, looking back on the summer when he was 13 and everything seemed to be happening at once. Throughout American Summer, he serves as narrator, commenting on what his younger self was experiencing — and thinking — as the summer unfolds.
The heart of the movie belongs to its young ensemble.
Logan Gray stars as young Mikey, navigating baseball, neighborhood adventures, his first job and his first real crush while his father is missing in action overseas. Mia Talerico plays Kelly, the girl who captures his attention, while Mikey’s circle of friends helps propel a summer of adventures and growing up.
Brinkley appears as Kelly later in life, bringing Mikey’s decades-old memory into the present near the film’s end.
The cast also includes Dan Lauria (The Wonder Years), Cullen Moss (Outer Banks), Erinn Ruth (Billions), Michael Cuomo, Ellen Toland and former Major League Baseball players Lee Mazzilli and Luis Sojo.
“Anytime you’re going to do a movie about baseball, teenagers, a small town, you get the feeling — unless it’s going to be a horror movie — you know what genre it’s supposed to be,” Guttenberg told Spark Hamptons ahead of the premiere.
“It’s satisfying and really gives your soul some food for optimism and hope — it’s about values and times that we all share.” — Steve Guttenberg (American Summer)
“There’s not a person on this planet that’s not been 12 to 13 years old,” he said. “We’ve all been that age. We all know what’s going on during those years.”
“It’s a movie where you know what you’re going to get,” he said, “and it does it very well.”
Coming Together
Before the screening, Gray spoke to the East Hampton audience about the idea behind the film.
“The general theme of the movie is the word ‘togetherness,’” Gray said. Baseball, he added, “brings you together — I think we would all agree, a little bit more of that in the world would be best for everybody.” The audience applauded.
The idea for a multigenerational movie was partly inspired by his father.
“Nobody makes things I can enjoy with the (grand)kids,” Gray recalled his dad saying back in 2012.
His response: “Challenge accepted.”
Guttenberg as the Narrator
Guttenberg is Mikey looking back, while Logan Gray plays the boy whose summer is unfolding on screen.
“I love bookending movies,” Guttenberg said. “I love when a narrator comes on.”
He pointed to Sam Elliott in The Big Lebowski as one of his favorite examples.
“I like being the chorus, the narrator.”
Working with Christie Brinkley
Brinkley, a longtime Hamptons resident and an executive producer on American Summer, appears as Kelly later in life.
Moments before the East Hampton screening, she told Spark Hamptons she was about to see her part in the finished film for the first time.
“She’s a really, really interesting lady,” Guttenberg said of Brinkley. “She’s a lot more than you would think she would be as such a beautiful supermodel. But she’s a very interested woman. She’s educated. She’s worldly. She’s world-traveled. She’s well-read. She’s a surprise.”
“I found her to be extremely interested in acting and doing her best to play the part as well as she can,” he said. “And she did a wonderful job.”
Brinkley had high praise for Guttenberg.
“He’s great. Steve Guttenberg is, of course, a major actor,” she told Spark Hamptons. “In the scene that we do together, there’s an emotional component to the scene, and I swear his eyes misted over. He was so in the moment every time. He’s amazing.”
She also put into perspective what many who saw the film that night were saying afterward.
“I love the idea of a real simple movie with heart and about people and their emotions, not about special effects and all of that,” Brinkley said.
Growing up on Long Island
Guttenberg grew up in New York, first in Brooklyn and Queens and later on Long Island. His memories of childhood are vivid — and one in particular stands out.
“I remember walking with my dad,” Guttenberg said. “My dad was a cop, and when he would come home, one of the things he’d like to do is say hi to my two sisters and my mom — and then take me for a walk with his uniform on.”
“I just felt like 10 feet tall walking next to a policeman,” he said. “I thought he was God.”
‘Bring something to the party’
Guttenberg also talked about where he found the confidence to pursue acting in the first place.
“I think the house I grew up in, my parents’ kitchen table — there I got a lot of confidence about my value system, which was really wonderful,” he said. “My parents gave me a good value system.”
What were those values?
“Be on time. Know what you’re talking about. And bring something to the party.”
“When you go to a dinner party as a guest, you have to bring something,” he said. “It could just be your attitude, so bring a great attitude.”
“You’re a guest on this planet. So you can’t sit by yourself. You have to engage in the world.” — Steve Guttenberg
Life Lessons that Remain
With American Summer centered on an older Mikey revisiting the boy he once was, Spark Hamptons asked Guttenberg what he would tell his own teenage self.
“Don’t waste time,” he said.
“If you’re thinking of getting an ice cream, just get the ice cream. If you’re thinking about taking a class, don’t think about it, just take the class.”
“I would suggest to myself: Don’t waste time.”
After nearly five decades in Hollywood, Guttenberg is keeping busy with “many projects in the works.”
And through the years, no matter life’s ups and downs, the fundamentals of making a good movie, he says, remain the same.
“You need to have a great plot, a great narrative. You need to have a great story, a good director, good writers, good actors, and the movie works and it’s a hit.”
The same holds true, he says, for how we experience life (and entertainment), despite the overuse of electronic devices, the streaming platforms and all the modern technology achievements and distractions.
“Nothing’s changed, Gravity has not changed, and it never will,” says Guttenberg. “The sun is still coming up tomorrow. I don’t care what Jeff Bezos or Musk want to do tonight, that sun’s coming up tomorrow. You can’t change that.”
For Guttenberg, who has had his share of major league hits, it comes down to literally hitting it out of the park.
“There are certain things in show business especially that never change,” he said. “You need a hit. You want to have people see you? Get in a hit.”
“As Jessica Tandy once said to me, ‘I’d rather be a shit in a hit, than a hit in a shit.’”
And with that, Noodle, gave a woof woof.
American Summer opens in limited theaters Friday, Sept. 4. For more information, trailers and theater information, visit AmericanSummerMovie.com.
