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The Naked Brothers Band: The Movie

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The Naked Brothers Band: The Movie
A rectangle split into squares, showing movie logo and images of Alex Wolff holding up drumsticks, Cooper dressed as the band manager, Rosalina in a white shirt, Nat Wolff with a microphone, and Alex with a US flag bandana and a shirt displaying a Union Jack. Most prominent is an image of two boys - one holding drumsticks and the other holding a microphone.
DVD cover
Directed byPolly Draper
Written byPolly Draper
Produced byExecutive Producers:
Tim Draper
Polly Draper
Michael Wolff
Producers:
Ken H. Keller
Caron Rudner
Jonathan Pillot
Polly Draper
Michael Wolff
Associate Producer:
Craig Cobb
Co-Producer:
Fotene Trigonis
StarringNat Wolff
Alex Wolff
David Levi
Thomas Batuello
Joshua Kaye
Allie DiMeco
Cole Hawkins
Cooper Pillot
Jesse Draper
Michael Wolff
CinematographyDirector of Photography:
Ken H. Keller
Edited byCraig Cobb
Music byNat Wolff
Alex Wolff
Distributed byWorldwide Biggies
Paramount Home Entertainment
Nickelodeon Movies
Release date
April 3, 2009 (2009-04-03)
Running time
Film festival screening:[1]
84 minutes
DVD release:[2]
82 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
BudgetUnder US$1,000,000[3]

The Naked Brothers Band: The Movie is a 2005 American family film written and directed by Polly Draper. It tells of a rock band fronted by Nat and Alex Wolff, two brothers who have become superstars. The plot shows how they manage their fame, and the conflict revolves around a dispute that results in the breaking up and eventual reunification of the group. Nat and his younger sibling Alex act as themselves. The motion picture also features Joshua Kaye, Thomas Batuello, David Levi, Allie DiMeco, Cole Hawkins, Cooper Pillot, Jesse Draper, and Michael Wolff.

The footage is presented in the style of a rock/mock documentary—a parody shot in documentary format—in which cameras follow the gang members through their stage performances and private lives. This concept was conceived by the boys' mother Draper, who derived the idea from a band that Nat created in preschool with his friends. Principal photography was filmed in mid-2004 and took place in New York City; interior scenes were filmed in the Wolff family's apartment.

The enterprise began as an independent film, receiving an award at a film festival; it was later co-opted by the cable television channel Nickelodeon as a pilot for the television show The Naked Brothers Band. The movie premiered on January 27, 2007 and the series was created by Draper, which ran from 2007 to 2009. When the dailies premiered, the channel received favorable ratings for children, aged 6 to 11.[4]

Plot

Two brothers, Nat and Alex, aged nine and six respectively, are members of a band called The Silver Boulders. The band features Nat as the lead singer-songwriter and keyboardist; Alex as the drummer; Josh as the guitarist; David as the keyboardist; Thomas as cellist; and, Cooper as the manager. The group's fame results from having been signed to the record label Who's the Man Records by John B. Williams. The film begins with the band performing "Motormouth" at the Hammerstein Ballroom. After the show, the members tell the audience how they started as a band, and a clip is played from the video of their song "Crazy Car". Alex admits to having a crush on the band's nineteen-year-old babysitter, Jesse Cook, whereas Nat speaks in an English accent whenever he is around Josh's stepsister Rosalina, who is eleven-years-old.

Initially, the bandmates get along smoothly until they disagree about a new song. Thomas composes a song called "Boys Rule, Girls Drool"; Nat dislikes this choice, and subsequently writes his own, called "Rosalina". The rest of the band—except Cooper and Alex—want to use Thomas's composition instead of Nat's. Nat's song choice causes Thomas and Josh to tease Nat about his feelings for Rosalina. The band has a food fight in a restaurant, prompting Thomas, David, and Josh to leave and form a new group, called The Gold Boulders, managed by Mort Needleman. After watching the media talking about the band's split on television, Nat writes a song about it, titled "If There Was a Place to Hide", and fans gather, pleading for the band to reunite.

Nat and Alex decide to change the band's name back to its original name: The Naked Brothers Band. The new line-up features Rosalina as the cellist and Cole Hawkins—an original band member when Nat and Alex were toddlers—as the guitarist. The band goes on tour to Chicago with The Gold Boulders as their opening act. The Gold Boulders begin their performance with "Boys Rule, Girls Drool" and are eventually booed off the stage. The Naked Brothers Band performs "Hardcore Wrestlers (with Inner Feelings)" and "Rosalina", which are warmly received by the crowd. After the concert, Nat has a party, at which David, Thomas, and Josh announce their desire to rejoin The Naked Brothers Band. The film ends with the reunited band performing a concert on the roof of their apartment to a backdrop of fireworks.

Cast

Main cast
  • Nat Wolff starred as himself, a nine-year-old boy who is the lead singer-songwriter and keyboardist for the band. His female fans refer to him as "The Girl Magnet".
  • Alex Wolff starred as himself, a hyperactive six-year-old boy who is the drummer for the band.
  • David Julian Levi starred as himself, a nine-year-old boy who is the keyboardist for the band.
  • Thomas Batuello starred as himself, a nine-year-old boy who is the cellist for the band.
  • Joshua Kaye starred as himself, a nine-year-old boy who is the guitarist for the band.
  • Allie DiMeco starred as Rosalina, an eleven-year-old girl who is Josh's step sister and Nat's crush. After the band breaks up, Rosalina becomes the cellist.
  • Cooper Pillot starred as himself, a nine-year-old boy who is the band's manager. He wears a suit and large sunglasses.
  • Michael Wolff starred as Dad, an inept accordion player who embarrasses his sons.
  • Cole Hawkins starred as himself, a twelve-year-old boy who was originally in Nat and Alex's band, until he moved to Connecticut. Cole becomes the guitarist after the original band breaks up.
  • Jesse Draper starred as Jesse Cook, the band's nonsensical nanny and tutor.
Additional cast
  • Tim Draper starred as Principal Schmoke, the Amigos Elementary School's principal.
  • John B. Williams starred as himself. In the film, he was the character who signed the band onto his record label, Who's The Man Records.
  • Jonathan Pillot starred as Mort Needlman, a scornful man who becomes the manager for The Gold Boulders after the original band splits up.
  • William "Billy" T. Draper, Adam Draper, and Coulter Mulligan starred as Adam, Donnie and Johnny, who are part of a group called The Timmerman Brothers. They had a hit single "Splishy Splashy", until they experienced puberty and could no longer sing, causing the gang's musical career to cease.
  • Barbara eda-Young starred as the musicologist.
  • James Badge-Dale and Gretchen Egolf starred as the romantic couple.

Background

Development

See also: The Naked Brothers Band (band)

Immediately upon the age of five, Nat became inspired to compose songs after listening to music by The Beatles. Consequently Nat and his friends formed a band in preschool.[5] Nat's younger brother Alex began to learn how to play the saxophone at the age of two.[5] The name of the band resulted from an incident in which the boys once shouted "We're the naked brothers band!" after having a bath.[3][6]

"When Nat was born, I remember holding him in my lap and while I was doing that he would reach his hands to the piano and just start banging on [it]. And when Nat was old enough to walk...he came to one of my gigs that I did and...I was in the sound check and it was right where people were starting to walk in. And [Nat] came up to the piano and started hitting [it] and people clapped [then] the light came on and he turned, and he bowed. And I just went, 'I knew he was all over.'"—Michael Wolff[7]

After the September 11 terrorist attacks, when Nat was six-years-old, he wrote a song called "Firefighters", which he performed at a benefit concert staged behind the family's apartment. The benefit concert raised over US$45,000, which was donated to the children of the firefighters at the New York City Fire Department's Squad 18, who died as a result of the attacks.[5][7] Following their charity concert, the band began performing at Christmas parties and wedding ceremonies. Alex eventually was inspired by Ringo Starr of The Beatles, so he chose the drums as an alternate instrument to play.[5]

Subsequently, The Silver Boulders broke up and, as a result, Nat and Alex decided to revive The Naked Brothers Band.[5] Draper, however, didn't want her children to be actors, and as she explains: "Nat kept putting signs on his door: 'I want to be a child actor!' I said, 'No, it's too brutal.'"[8] And in 2007 Draper explained to the New York Times: "Nat decided he wanted to film his own sitcom, so we did a film called Don’t Eat Off My Plate...I pretended to interview his friends and do a documentary."[3]

Nat asked his father to record a compact disc in the studio with him and his younger sibling, and the trio were granted a recording session. Watching the recording, Draper thought of making a mockumentary about the band, presenting the boys as music icons like The Beatles.[5][9] In a TV Guide interview in early 2007, Draper said, "What originally happened was that Nat and Alex had a band, and the idea evolved based on that. Spinal Tap meets The Little Rascals was my concept...I [also] wanted it to be very Beatle-ish, have that Help! or A Hard Day's Night kind of feeling."[10]

Filming

The film was designed as an independent family home-video.[5] It was shot over a five-week period in mid-2004 on a budget of less than US$1 million.[3] Shooting took place at the family's apartment and on location around New York City;[3] at the time of filming Nat was nine and Alex was six.

Draper explains that in order to film the movie, "We would sneak into locations and run."[3]

"Julianne (Moore) was the first one to shoot a scene in it. She had to go away to do a real movie. I said, 'If you were in it, it would lend some credibility to the idea that Nat is a star. Can you do it Thursday?' And she said yes! We found this building and put a couple chairs in it, and made it like the backstage of a talk show, really funky—like New York talk show green rooms really are. She and Nat both did it in one take. He was surprisingly great. I thought, 'Wow!' He's really good at this acting thing."—Polly Draper[11]

The film was written and directed by Draper. It was produced by Ken H. Keller, Caron Rudner, Jonathan Pillot, Draper, and Wolff; the executive producers were Draper, Wolff, and Polly Draper's brother Tim.[12] The film was co-produced by Fotene Trigonis, with Craig Cobb as the editor and associate producer.[12] Wolff, who produced the music with Levine, also contributed the underscore.[12] Keller, the director of photography,[13] used a color framing, high-definition video camera. Rudner served as the line producer, and John M. Davis as the music editor. Nat wrote and performed all of the music, except for one song written and performed by Alex.[5][9] Rick Butler served as the production designer. Frederick Howard was the supervising sound editor, and Deb Temco oversaw the casting.[12]

Casting

The majority of the cast were friends and relatives of the Draper-Wolff family.[3][12] Tim Draper is Polly Draper's brother and John B. Williams is the cellist for Michael Wolff's band, Impure Thoughts.[14][15] Barbara eda-Young, James Badge-Dale, Gretchen Egolf, and Cooper Pillot are actors who starred in Draper's playwright Getting Into Heaven.[16]

Jesse Draper, Polly Draper's niece and Nat and Alex's cousin, explains: "We've always performed for each other at family reunions. We're constantly singing songs at Christmas, goofy songs we've made up, or we'll put on little family plays or make family movies. So when Polly said, 'Let’s make a family movie,' we didn't realize it was like, a real movie."[3][17] Billy Draper and Adam Draper are Jesse Draper's brothers, and Coulter Mulligan is Jesse's actual cousin.[17]

David Levi, Thomas Batuello, and Joshua Kaye were Nat's friends since preschool.[3][5] Cole Hawkins has no involvement with the band;[5] Cole is an actor, who starred as Leonard in the 2003 musical comedy film School of Rock.[18] Allie DiMeco was not a member of the band; she was an actress who auditioned for her role.[5]

The film had many guest appearances from celebrity friends of Draper and Wolff, including Julianne Moore, Cyndi Lauper, Tony Shalhoub, Uma Thurman, Arsenio Hall, Nancy Wilson, David Thornton, Brent Popolizio, Cindy Blackman, Ann Curry, and Ricki Lake. In addition, the cast members Ken Olin, Mel Harris, Patricia Wettig, Melanie Mayron, Tim Busfield, Peter Horton, and Draper of ABC's Thirtysomething made a special appearance.[3][12]

Music

Nat wrote most of the songs performed in the film, although "That's How It Is" was written and performed by Alex. At the age of six, Nat composed a melody that was devoid of lyrics. Afterwards, when he wanted to write a song that sounded similar to the music of The Beach Boys—because they wrote a lot of songs about cars—Nat used that melody for a bubblegum pop piece named "Crazy Car".[5]

"Rosalina" was originally called "Firefighters" and was composed by Nat for a charity concert after the September 11 terrorist attacks. His mother later told him "to change the song to the name of a girl for the movie."[5] The song "Motormouth" was written by Nat when he was angry at his younger sibling.[5] Alex's song "That's How It Is" was written about his curiosity regarding why he could not go out with a teenager named Katie, who was ten years his senior.[5] Other songs performed in the film by Nat include "Got No Mojo", "Hardcore Wrestlers (with Inner Feelings)", "I Need You", "Sorry Girl", and "If There Was a Place to Hide".[19]

Michael Wolff—who produced the music with Levine—also contributed the underscore. The songs Michael Wolff performed in the film include "Rathskeller Polka", "Rathskeller Waltz", "Naked Party Polka", and "Naked Tango".[19] For the underscore, Alex wrote the lyrics for the song "Shakey Shakey" and Michael Wolff performed the music, whilst "Boys Rule, Girls Drool" was written by Draper and the music was performed by Michael Wolff.[19] "Splishy Splashy (Timmerman Song)" was also written by Draper and the music was performed by Michael Wolff.[19] Nancy Wilson sang a rendition of the song "Crazy Car" for the film.[19]

Releases and debuts

Tom Ashiem, the executive vice president and general manager of Nickelodeon explains, "At first, we were intrigued by the idea, but we weren't sure kids would get the vague-tongue-and-cheek-of-it. Then a bunch of us took it home to our own children and they loved it."[3]

"...And so what happened was no one wanted really to put the marketing money into [making] it a film so we decided [to] enter it into a film festival route [and] a guy named Albie Hecht who had been president of Nickelodeon at one time...[Hecht] had an independent production deal with Nickelodeon and said, 'You know this kind of [film] has to be on Nickelodeon. We should do a television show.' And we said, 'Well, you know, we'll do a cartoon. We don't want to have our kids doing all of these [things].' So we talked [it over and the agent said], 'We'll just figure out what would be the parameters that would work for you.' So we said, 'Okay, [only] if our kids [don't miss] regular school and just shoot [it] in the summer...in New York and just do thirteen episodes a year.' And Nickelodeon agreed to it."—Michael Wolff[7]

The film aired worldwide, debuted in the United States on January 27, 2007, and in the United Kingdom on May 28, 2007 on Nickelodeon (UK & Ireland). It also aired in Canada on September 10, 2007 on YTV and on Nickelodeon Germany on October 20, 2007.[3][20][21] The film received a Region 1 DVD release on April 3, 2007,[22] through Nickelodeon Movies and Paramount Home Entertainment.[22]

By mid-2006, the first season of The Naked Brothers Band television show began production, and it ran from 2007 to 2009.[3][23] Draper was the creator, head writer, executive producer, and director of the series,[3][6][1] while Hecht was executive producer and his production company Worldwide Biggies distributed the series.[3][1][24] Kidz House Entertainment was another distributor of the series.[1] Later made-for-TV movies were created and aired as the series continued, and currently eight films have aired on Nickelodeon. Often the latter films were either two episodes which aired together or an extended episode (as Nickelodeon usually uses the "movie" definition for hour-long episodes of their series), and usually aired as either part of either a holiday event on the network or on a weekend.[25]

Awards and reception

The film earned the audience award for a family feature film at the 2005 Hamptons International Film Festival.[3][12][1] Hecht recalls in People magazine, "I could see there was an audience for this. They're real kids, real brothers, making real music."[26] Meanwhile, in a New York Times article he said, "They're just real: real brothers, real friends; it's all the stuff kids do when they're hanging out on the playground. The idea that you're watching a documentary is so much fun. Then you put them into that fantasy of being a world-famous rock band, and that's the sauce that makes it work."[3]

Michael Wolff explains that "...We made this film and we had never had any thought of it being a television show. We just made it to be a film. We had an agent who thought, 'Oh we're going to get a ton of money...' we did all this market research and it tested as high as Shrek with kids and they come out singing, 'Cray-ay-ay-ay-ay-zy Car.'"[7] When the film premiered on the network, it was seen by an average of 2.7 million viewers;[27] it was placed in the top-10 spot on the Nielsen VideoScan children's non-theatrical DVD charts.[4] The song "Crazy Car" sold more than 100,000 downloads online; it was placed on the Billboard Hot 100 charts for seven weeks and the track was featured on the Nickelodeon's Kids' Choice, Vol 3.[4]

Ronnie Sheib from Variety said that "Convincingly faithful to kids' rhythms and speech patterns, and featuring several catchy if one-chorus numbers, this bouncy, feel-good kidpic, with targeted release strategy, could rock peers and parents alike."[9] Felicia R. Lee from the New York Times called the film "an ebullient mock documentary."[3]

"The movie is pure wishfulfillment for kids who like to pretend to be famous, know better than their elders and experience adult situations without the drama. Parents will be similarly charmed by Nat's awkward crush on Rosalina (he puts on an English accent when she's around), Alex's outrageous fashion sense, the nostalgia this genre brings and appearances by Cyndi Lauper, Uma Thurman, Tony Shalhoub and other stars."—Tribune Company[9]

Tami Horiuchi from Amazon.com said that this "funny spoof of the Hollywood rockumentary genre is so over-done that some viewers might find it distasteful, offensive, and/or inappropriate for children" and recommends an age group between the ages of 9–13.[22]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Fries, Laura (January 25, 2007). "Naked Brothers Band". Variety. Retrieved January 26, 2007.
  2. ^ "The Naked Brothers Band: The Movie". The New York Times. Retrieved September 29, 2009.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Lee, Felicia R. (January 25, 2007). "A TV Family Bound By Blood and a Band". The New York Times. Retrieved September 14, 2007. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. ^ a b c "The Naked Brothers Band - Release of Their Debut CD". News Blaze. October 11, 2007. Retrieved June 15, 2009.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Jacques Steinberg, Polly Draper, Michael Wolff, Nat Wolff, Alex Wolff. Arts & Leisure Week: The Naked Brothers Band. The New York Times (webcast). Retrieved May 13, 2009. {{cite AV media}}: Unknown parameter |year2= ignored (help)
  6. ^ a b Steinberg, Jacques (September 22, 2007). "Famous for Playing Rock Stars". The New York Times. Retrieved May 30, 2009. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  7. ^ a b c d Dee Perry, Nat Wolff, Alex Wolff, Michael Wolff. The Naked Brothers Band, The Two Man Gentlemen Band & Peter Kuper. WCPN (webcast). Retrieved September 16, 2009. {{cite AV media}}: Unknown parameter |year2= ignored (help)
  8. ^ Ryan, Suzanne C (January 7, 2007). "Getting with the program". The Boston Globe. Retrieved January 4, 2009.
  9. ^ a b c d "DVD Review: 'The Naked Brothers Band Movie'". zap2it.com. Tribune Media Services. April 3, 2007. Retrieved November 24, 2007. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  10. ^ Walsh-Boyle, Megan (February 2, 2007). "Polly Draper: The Naked Brothers' Mother Returns to TV". TV Guide. Retrieved September 6, 2009.
  11. ^ Smith, Stacy Jenel. "Rising Stars Nat and Alex Wolff: 'Naked Brothers? Success Gives Mom Pause". Netscape Celebrity. Retrieved April 18, 2008.
  12. ^ a b c d e f g Scheib, Ronnie (November 1, 2005). "Hamptons: The Naked Brothers Band". Variety. Retrieved November 21, 2007.
  13. ^ "The Naked Brothers Band (DVD Video Recording)". Camden County Library. Retrieved August 22, 2009.
  14. ^ Hamlin, Jesse (February 17, 2008). "Jazz pianist Michael Wolff at Yoshi's S.F". San Francisco Chronicle. SFGate.com. Retrieved September 18, 2009.
  15. ^ "The Technology Chronicles : Six degrees of Tim Draper". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved April 19, 2009.
  16. ^ Weber, Bruce (July 3, 2007). "Getting Into Heaven". The New York Times. Retrieved August 21, 2009.
  17. ^ a b Elrod, Ashley (January 16, 2008). "Playing together, staying together". Daily Bruin. Retrieved May 29, 2009.
  18. ^ "Cole Hawkins - Trailer - Sometimes - Cast - Movies & TV - NYTimes.com". The New York Times. Retrieved May 29, 2009.
  19. ^ a b c d e "The Naked Brothers Band: The Movie (2005) (TV) - Soundtracks". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved May 29, 2009.
  20. ^ "The Naked Brothers Band: The Movie (2005) (TV) - Release dates". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved June 2, 2009.
  21. ^ "News from Sales & Co-Marketing - Programming News: Coming to YTV This Fall! - The Naked Brothers Band" (PDF). YTV. September 2007. Retrieved June 2, 2009.
  22. ^ a b c Horiuchi, Tami. "The Naked Brothers Band - The Movie (DVD Only)". Amazon.com. Retrieved May 9, 2009.
  23. ^ Sutton, Judy (August 11, 2009). "Chatting with the Wolff brothers of the Naked Brothers Band". Time Out Chicago. Retrieved August 16, 2009.
  24. ^ Leonard, Devin (December 5, 2007). "No, Albie's not crazy". Fortune. CNNMoney.com. Retrieved September 19, 2009. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  25. ^ "Nickelodeon's New Season of The Naked Brothers Band Rocks as Week's Top Live-Action Show With Kids and Tweens". PRNewswire. October 21, 2008. Retrieved September 3, 2009.
  26. ^ Dagostino, Mark (November 5, 2007). "Hanging Out with ... the Naked Brothers Band". People. Retrieved June 15, 2009.
  27. ^ "Viewers are kind to 'Idol'". USA Today. January 30, 2007. Retrieved June 14, 2009.

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