New York, I Love You

Four years ago, I had the pleasure of working with Joel and Ethan Coen on their segment of Paris Je ‘Taime. The Coens introduced me to Emmanuel Benbihy, the producer of that film, who asked me to direct the “transitions” for Vivendi Entertainment’s New York I Love You, which opens in theaters this Friday, October 16. My mission was to create scenes that brought the cast members of the various segments together, and weave a web of connections so that the film feels like a single fabric, even though it is constructed of ten separate segments by different directors. I had the amazing experience of working with Eva Amurri, Justin Bartha, Rachel Bilson, Orlando Bloom, James Caan, Hayden Christensen, Bradley Cooper, Chris Cooper, Drea de Matteo, Ethan Hawke, Cloris Leachman, Emilie Ohana, Natalie Portman, Maggie Q, Shu Qi, Eli Wallach, Anton Yelchin and Ugur Yucel. As you can imagine, the production was chaotic, but I had the backing of an awesome crew, and somehow we made it through to the “light at the end of the tunnel.” I’m very proud of my work on this picture and encourage you to go and see it.
— Randy Balsmeyer

And here are some more fun links:

New York I Love You on Facebook:
www.facebook.com/newyorkiloveyou

16 minutes of clips from NYILY, including 4 directed by RB:
www.collider.com

NEW YORK I LOVE YOU “… opens a romantic window into the city via a sort of filmmakers’ cooperative. The vignettes are tied together into a single feature through a “recurrent character,” a videographer who interacts with the other characters. And transitional elements — choreographed by 11th director Randy Balsmeyer — move the viewer from one world to another, uniting all these intimate stories into a single shimmering fabric.”
— The Hollywood Reporter (click for more)

Directors: Fatih Akin, Yvan Attal, Randall Balsmeyer, Allen Hughes, Shunji Iwai, Jiang Wen, Shekhar Kapur, Joshua Marston, Mira Nair, Natalie Portman, Brett Ratner