Printer Friendly Version - Jonathan Jacobson: Movie Time

Nearly four decades ago, Jonathan Jacobson was making videos for his friends and classmates at Chester Elementary School. His newest project, The Kill Room, stars Uma Thurman and Samuel L. Jackson. Photo courtesy of Jonathan Jacobson

Once, some four decades ago, Jonathan Jacobson made videos that delighted friends and classmates at Chester Elementary School.

Now, those friends are still delighted, sending Jonathan pictures from all over the country as they posed in front of the poster for The Kill Room, the movie starring Uma Thurman and Samuel L. Jackson for which he wrote the script.

“It’s the best feeling, so many friends from Chester Elementary sending pictures, the kid they knew so long ago with the video camera,” he says. “I’m happy to hear from them.”

The Kill Room is not what the title suggests: a bloody murder saga. It is, rather, a spoof of the art world. Jonathan’s wife, Nicole Russo, owns an art gallery in Brooklyn, though he emphasizes that his crazy send-up is in no way related to her gallery but rather to the business of galleries in general.

“People are intimidated by the art world. They see a banana taped to the wall. What is it? What do they say about it? It seems like the world of the wealthy and powerful, the rich and famous,” he says.

“It is about a struggling gallery; people have no idea of the work that goes into a gallery. There has never been a film from the art gallery perspective,” Jonathan explains.

In addition to that perspective, the film involves mistaken identity, money laundering, a failing business, and, yes, there is murder.

Jonathan, a graduate of Valley Regional High School with a degree in film and television production from New York University, was immersed in film as a child. His parents, Joel and the late Susan Jacobson, not only loved film, they also owned several video stores.

He has consistently worked in the field, often as a production coordinator, and he has also, on his own time, written film scripts.

“Writing film scripts is a creative outlet for me,” he says. “I come home from work, and I am tired, and I wouldn’t do this unless I loved it.”

The Kill Room, which he started writing some seven years ago, is the first of his scripts that has ever been sold. And something else: It was not only sold, it was made into a movie. Jonathan points out that many scripts are bought but then never produced.

The path from writing to production was a serendipitous chain. He told a friend about the script; the friend told a producer who was looking for a project; the producer liked the script. Uma Thurman was approached about a small part. She liked the script so much she wanted to star and asked if she could show it to her friend Samuel L. Jackson. He signed on. Thurman’s daughter Maya Hawke also appears in the film, as does Joe Manganiello as a hitman turned artistic sensation.

The independently made film is being distributed in the United States by Shout! Studios; Universal is the international distributor.

Most of the film was shot in New Jersey, with a few final scenes done in Florida. Filming, according to Jonathan, took 27 days; he was able to get to the set irregularly, about once a week.

Jonathan is head of development and production for Move This World, a company that makes K-12 short films on how to deal with difficult emotional situations.

Publicity for the film encountered unexpected challenges, both man-made and from the natural world.

The Writer’s Guild of America strike meant that big names like Thurman and Jackson had no live talk and interview shows to appear on to publicize the film.

The weather didn’t cooperate either. On the night of the New York opening, the city was flooded in an unexpected and torrential rain storm.

Reviews have been generally positive; one Internet site gives The Kill Room a 60% Rotten Tomatoes rating.

“Some [reviews] have been good; some have been not so good,” Jonathan says. “What I hope people say is that it was original.”

The film, Jonathan points out, is a movie that was made not only with the live theater experience in mind but, more importantly, with subsequent showing on various streaming platforms. As a result, opportunities to see it will remain available even if it is not in local theaters.

Jonathan had no agent or professional representation in selling the movie. He still doesn’t, though he admits that as a result of The Kill Room, he has, as he puts it, “talked to several people.”

Whatever the result, he will continue writing movie scripts. He has several projects in the works.

“I’m just being creative on my own. I wrote the scripts with no expectations. Having the movie produced is the cherry on top.”

Jonathan and Nicole now live in Brooklyn, New York, with a dog that Jonathan describes as “a mix of many disobedient dogs.”

Chester, nonetheless, remains central to his thinking about how his own artistic sensibilities developed.

“It’s a great small town. There was always a sense of creativity,” he says. I am so glad I was raised in a community that valued creativity and the arts.”