EXCLUSIVE: L.A. standup and influencer Noel Leon and actor, producer and writer Mickey Gooch Jr. have tapped a raft of comedy veterans for their directorial feature debut A Comedy of Errors.
Billed as a true-life addiction tale, Leon wrote the screenplay and also stars and co-directs with Gooch.
She is joined on screen by Siobhan Hogan Fallon (Forrest Gump, Seinfeld, Men in Black), Brian O’Halloran (Clerks, Jay and Silent Bob), Luke Null (Saturday Night Live), Judy Gold (2 Broke Girls, Better Things), Andy Dick (Reality Bites, Inspector Gadget, Employee of the Month), and Or Mashiah (Wild ‘N Out).
Leon, a regular performer on the L.A. and New York comedy club scene, stars as queer female standup comic Noel, who relapses into addiction after getting dumped and evicted two days before Christmas.
She goes on the bender of all benders across NYC with her stoner best friend (Or). In her descent towards rock bottom, she reaches out to unlikely suspects for help such as her unscrupulous therapist Dr. Yohannson (Dick), ex-con turned sober guru Susan (Gold), jaded cop lan (O’Halloran), alcoholic mom (Siobhan Hogan Fallon) and bartender (Mike Young).
“In the grips of an addiction everything seems black and white, which is why I shot the feature as such … with alternate reality and flashbacks in color,” said Leon, adding she had taken inspiration from the work of Federico Fellini to play with idea of reclaiming “days of innocence” as a means of staying sober.
“It’s a coming-of-age tale that demonstrates the necessity of abandoning worldviews that no longer serve you inherent at each stage of life … Life (for anyone sober or not) is a continual process of becoming,” said Leon.
Gooch, whose acting credits include How to Be Single (2016), The Clapper (2017), Deported (2020) and Madness in the Method (2019), has also collaborated as a writer with Clerks creator Kevin Smith, while his executive producer credits include films such as The Trial of the Chicago 7.
He is active in New York’s sober community having personally overcome his own decade-long battle with addiction. “I hope that anyone struggling will enjoy the humor in the film as a means of catharsis. This story is a testament to the beauty inherent in simply persevering against the greatest opponent: oneself,” said Gooch.
“Substance abuse is a global health issue. Unfortunately, even if you yourself aren’t affected, it’s six degrees of separation to find someone who is.”
The film, which is in the final stages of post-production, is produced by Whitney and Ranger Production. Executive producers include DG Guyer and Ian Sugarman.
A Comedy of Errors was filmed in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Red Bank, NJ, with the latter location a nod to Smith, whose cult classics Clerks, Forgetting Sarah Marshall are an inspiration to Leon and were shot there.
“New York plays a main character in the film. Somehow, we’ve managed to give it a small-town feel while capturing its grittiness and heart,” said Leon.
The production has released a first image from the film featuring a scene shot on the Brooklyn Bridge.
‘A Comedy of Errors’
Whitney And Ranger Production
Content shared from deadline.com.