 Starring: Daniel Letterle, Joanna Chilcoat, Robin de Jesus, Steven Cutts, Anna Kendrick
Director: Todd Graff
Year Of Release: 2003
Plot: Although they’re misfits at home, a group of teens come together to share their love of performance at a musical theatre summer camp. As they prepare for the end of camp concert, golden-boy Vlad tries to negotiate his feelings for Ellen, cross-dressing Michael attempts to find acceptance and Broadway one-hit-wonder turned camp counsellor, Bert Hanley, falls deeper into drink and cynicism. |
I really like Camp. While a teen flick about a musical theatre summer camp that involves alcoholism, transvestisism and homosexuality (yes, the title does describe both the plot and the style), and which features no known actors, was always going to struggle to get decent distribution, it is a sweet and life-affirming movie.
And if you like musicals, it also features some pretty good versions of various Broadway tunes, along with some original numbers, performed by some very talented young people. In some ways it was a couple of years ahead of when this sort of thing hit the zeitgeist. It's sort of like Glee before there was a Glee, and what High School Musical and Camp Rock would have been if they weren't so Disney-fied.
In one of the coincidences which is getting rather creepy with this Movie-A-Day series, it was also the film debut of Anna Kendrick, who plays the supporting role of the overly ambitious Fritzi. Anna is currently becoming a massive star thanks to her performance in Up In The Air, which was released in the UK last Friday (not to mention that she plays Jessica in the Twilight films). And as of last night, we know that she lost out on a Golden Globe award, although it’s seeming likely she’ll have another chance to pick up a gong when the Oscars come around.
Although in Up In The Air and Twilight she didn’t really have much of a chance to show off her singing skills, Kendrick has been on the Broadway stage since she was a child. She became the second youngest person ever to be nominated for a Tony Award, when she was acknowledged for her role in High Society at the tender age of 12. Kendrick also gets the best line in Camp – “She’s fucked, I’m ready and the goddamned show must go on.”
 Todd Graff in The Abyss (1986) |
There are also a couple of other interesting things about Camp, which I thought were worth pointing out. The writer/director of the film is Todd Graff (who also made the recent Bandslam). He might not be a name that’s well known to you, but you may recognise his face. Like Kendrick he started out on the New York stage as a child, and sang on the original-cast album of Sesame Street in 1970, as well as finding teen fame as Jesse in the US children’s series The Electric Company. Graff then scored a Tony nomination in 1984 for playing Danny in Baby.
However he’s also had a few memorable screen roles. In fact I was rather surprised to find the guy who made Camp and Bandslam also played Alan ‘Hippy’ Carnes in The Abyss, as well as appearing in the likes of Strange Days and Death To Smoochy.
His inspiration to write and direct Camp came from the fact that he was a camper and then a counsellor at the Stagedoor Manor performing arts summer school in New York. Stagedoor, which has been running since 1975, may not be that famous to outsiders, but in the acting world it has an impressive reputation for supporting its talented young campers, many of whom have gone on to have incredible careers. As well as Graff, other attendees over the years include Zach Braff, Robert Downey Jr., Jon Cryer, Bryce Dallas Howard. Jennifer Jason Leigh, Shawn Levy (director of Night At The Museum), Mary Stuart Masterson, Bijou Phillips, Natalie Portman and Mandy Moore. With its great reputation it’s also able to rope in successful alumni and other people from the theatre and film world to come each summer and help the kids.
On a less jolly note is what happened to the main star of Camp, Daniel Letterle, who played camp hunk Vlad. Letterle, who was in his early 20s when he made Camp, had a promising start to his career after he moved to New York in his teens to study at the American Musical & Dramatic Academy. He then travelled round the world appearing in Grease in Germany and West Side Story at the fame La Scala in Milan.
Camp was his film debut and seemed to promise big things to come from the young actor. However a couple of years later he was briefly jailed and compelled to complete community service after pleading guilty to the unlawful taking of a vehicle and receiving stolen goods. Not long afterwards he moved back to his home state of Ohio. Rumours suggested he was suffering from bipolar disorder and went home to deal with his situation and recuperate. It appears he hasn’t completely given up acting though, but since his problems it seems he’s had trouble resurrecting his once promising career. His last screen role was the lead in The Mostly Unfabulous Social Life of Ethan Green which was filmed before but released after his troubles with the law.
It just goes to show the different ways the careers of young people in Hollywood can go. Letterle struggles while Kendrick is on top of the world (there’s also Robin de Jesus, who played cross-dresser Michael in Camp, and is now a Broadway star, appearing in the likes of In The Heights and Rent). Performing is a tough profession and rarely a straightforward one, especially for people who start out in the business very young.
TIM ISAAC
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