Photo source The May issue of Premiere magazine will be on the shelves April 16. (Click for larger image)

Narrowsburg goes national, again

BY CHRIS CONROY

NARROWSBURG — Tales of local bright lights and celluloid dreams will show up in the May issue of Premiere magazine, courtesy of an acclaimed NYC writer with ties and a weekend home in Narrowsburg.

John Marchese’s article will focus on the story of Richard Castellano and the effect he had on the hamlet and surrounding environs.

“Everyone in Narrowsburg will be pretty familiar with the story [in general],” Marchese said. “It gets into Richie’s prior life more than some other things.”

Originally on assignment from New York Magazine, Marchese interviewed many people involved with the Narrowsburg International Independent Film Festival, those involved with “Four Deadly Reasons,” a film shot locally that was never released, and people involved with “Whacking Cows,” Castellano’s first film. Marchese said, “I even talked to the woman who owned the candy store [Castellano] went to growing up in his old neighborhood.”

What intrigued Marchese about the story was the variety of characters involved, and the way people latched on to occurrences. “I don’t think I’ve ever worked on a story that had so many great anecdotes [attached to it],” he said.

But when he presented the story to his editor at New York Magazine, it was rejected. “The editor felt Richie was too unsympathetic a character,” Marchese said.

Marchese began shopping around for another magazine to publish the article in. That’s when he went to Premiere.

“Our editor in chief heard about the [Castellano] story on NPR and thought it was interesting,” said Premiere editor Kathy Heintzelman. “Coincidentally, [Marchese] called. This doesn’t usually happen with something this far off the beaten path.”

Some changes had to be made, though. “There’s a lot left out [of the Premiere version],” Marchese said. “It was originally 8,000 words and it’s been cut down to 4,000.”

Still, it’s a great story. Heintzelman described it as “Get Shorty’ meets ‘The Music Man.’” She said it shows “the sort of star power that even marginal celebrities can wield.”

Marchese, who has been published in markets as diverse and weighty as The New York Times, Discover magazine and Rolling Stone, said he felt Castellano wasn’t the only person at fault in the problems that followed the film and film festivals. “There were a lot of people,” he said, “who got caught up in the glamour.”

The May issue of Premiere is expected to be on stands by the week of April 16. On the web, the magazine can be found at www.premiere.com.