Despite Market Tragedy, a Promise Fulfilled

A year and a day after they were killed in the Santa Monica Farmers’ Market crash, the first feature-length film by Kevin McCarthy and Diana Gong McCarthy had its West Coast premiere Saturday.

The McCarthys had toiled on “The Rouge Shoes” since the late 1990s. The movie, which the couple bankrolled for about $60,000, was finished a week before they died last July. He was 50; she was 41.

One of the film’s actors, Francesco Mazzini, 38, got choked up as he told the audience: “I made a promise to Kevin that I was going to see the movie on a big screen. I like to think for Kevin it’s a good day -- we’re here in a real movie theater. Kevin used to be an usher in a movie theater.”

The film was conceived and directed by Kevin and produced by Diana. Shot in black and white and with no dialogue, it tells the story of a ballerina whose dream of dancing before an audience is briefly granted. It is loosely based on the 1948 movie “The Red Shoes,” and an earlier Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale about a dancer and her magic shoes.

The movie is also the reason the McCarthys left their home on Long Island in late 2002 and came west, hoping to land jobs in the film industry.

The screening Saturday was an unusual debut, at least by Hollywood standards. There were no red carpets, gowns, limos or even celebrities.

Instead, there were eight giant placards lining the lobby wall of the Laemmle’s Monica theater in Santa Monica, each containing hundreds of tributes to the 10 people who died and 63 who were injured when George Russell Weller, then 86, drove his Buick through the market crowd July 16, 2003. As the movie played Saturday morning, the biweekly farmers market was taking place just down the street.

Mark Miller, 40, a filmmaker who lives in Westchester, was at the farmers market on the day of the crash. Both of his legs were broken and he lost several teeth. He didn’t know the McCarthys but said he came to the screening because they had managed to accomplish something most people only dream about -- completing a movie.

“As soon as I found out about this, it was like, ‘How could I not be here?’ ” Miller said.

About 50 people watched the film, which has been shown once in New York City, although the film has no distributor. Proceeds from the $10 admission will be donated to the New York Film Academy, which Kevin attended, said Ilaan Egeland, Mazzini’s partner and organizer of the event.

Nick Muccini, 39, a producer from Calabasas, knew of the McCarthys through friends. “I hope the film doesn’t end here,” he said. “It’s unusual and unique, and it’s a film that deserves to be seen.”

The story behind the film’s story began in New York. Diana was a project manager for architectural firms, an expert in feng shui and a classical pianist. Kevin worked a series of jobs -- video store clerk, teacher, theater usher -- while pursuing a dream of directing films.

Beginning in 1994, he made a series of three short films before launching work on “The Rouge Shoes” in the late 1990s. Most of the film was shot on Long Island. There was no formal script, nor did the McCarthys get permits to shoot on location -- they just showed up and rolled their camera. Actors often applied makeup while sitting in their cars.

After shooting ended, Kevin spent years editing the film in a friend’s New York apartment, splicing and resplicing together hours of footage. Friends said he lived on bagels and cream cheese.

The soundtrack was composed of sound effects and music, much of it played by Diana on the piano.

“Nobody was paid. We weren’t working for exposure -- a project like that you never know what will happen,” Mazzini said. “It was about the desire of making art that is unconventional.”

Kevin intended to use his films as a calling card to land a gig in the film industry in Los Angeles, where he and Diana had moved seven months before their deaths.

Kevin had an interview scheduled with a major studio the day after he died.

Marisa Petroro played the dancer in the film. She made “The Rouge Shoes” early in her career and then moved to Los Angeles to pursue acting. She finally saw the McCarthys again last July, when they had coffee and gave her a DVD of the film.

One week later, the couple were dead. Petroro was aware of the farmers market tragedy, but never heard about the victims. She didn’t learn about the McCarthys’ fate until recently.

“It was so strange -- I finally got to catch up with them,” Petroro said. “They had such a spirit for life. I was quite amazed by the film. They gave me a good basis to learn my craft.”

She has since landed roles in several films and also appeared in the television series “The Pretender.”

Petroro’s comments were echoed by Mazzini, who had never seen “The Rouge Shoes” until Saturday.

“In this day and age, Kevin decided to do a black-and-white silent film about a ballerina with red shoes,” Mazzini said. “But he had a vision and who I am today as an actor is because of Kevin showing me what I could do.”