Andrews and her production company came aboard after she read the script and fell in love with it.
“I really worked my ass off on this film so I’m very excited about it and I’m hoping it’s going to have a full festival run as well,” Andrews told XBIZ from Washington, where she was preparing for a photo shoot.
“It was kind of one of those things. I’ve been in New York for two-and-a-half years now and did two years of film school, and throughout that time I’ve been producing projects on the side. It’s one of those things where you get to know people who execute and get the job done and you start to build relationships with various other filmmakers in the city. So there are quite a few scripts that land on my desk.”
“Crumble” will premiere at 6:10 p.m. on Screen 3 at the Village East Cinema on Saturday.
Andrews said she was drawn to the film by its strong statement about empowerment of women and exploitation of their sexuality. It stars Steven Bauer, who is best known for his role opposite in Al Pacino in “Scarface.” Renata Bialkowska made her directorial debut with the movie, which she also wrote, while Andrews and David Karges co-produced.
Andrews said she was at a casting call for another film she was producing (“Blindfold”) when she read the script for “Crumble.”
“It was gritty and dark with a lot of sexual content in it and it was pretty twisted as well,” Andrews said. “It was a dreary New York morning, gray and cold and I was with the director kind of reading in between people showing up, and I was absolutely amused and entertained by the script.”
Andrews continued, “The first-time director Renata is an amazing woman. It was great to work with her. She has a really good work ethic. She’s been a publicist that has done a lot of PR for films in the past, and a lot of PR for different film events and she wanted to do her own thing. So I’m interested to see how she does all the press for the film and I kind of learned from her in this way.
“We really clicked from the beginning. We’re kindred spirits who feel the same way about female sexuality and I loved the movies she was kind of pulling from, such as ‘Requiem for a Dream,’ gritty kinds of films. So I was hooked from the beginning.”
Billed as one woman’s journey through self-discovery, the story is set in the underworld of New York City as an upper class trophy wife Lorna (Oksana Lada) loses her seemingly perfect husband Mike (Raymond Hamlin) to sordid affairs and dark addictions. Lorna is then lured into the seedy underground scene run by Reda (Steven Bauer), a street pimp. Lorna eventually lets go of her inhibitions, faces her demons and empowers herself through an unlikely relationship with a prostitute named Bianca (Alexandra Grossi).
In an unexpected turn, Andrews actually appears in a brief cameo in “Crumble.”
“It was one of those things where one of the actresses who was supposed to be playing the role didn’t show up,” she said, adding that she even tried "feverishly" to find a replacement. “I knew the director was going to ask me to do it. So I’m in it for 2.3 seconds while I get some cocaine snorted off my tit.”
The festival’s founder and executive producer, Stuart Alson, remarked, “’Crumble’ is a compelling and well-made film with an outstanding effort from a first-time director and an unforgettable performance by newcomer Alexandra Grossi, who plays Bianca.”
In addition to short films, Andrews’ Discipline FilmWorks has produced commercials, music videos and reality TV show pilots. Her next short film, a psychological horror that is in postproduction, is called “Trick of the Witch” and will be released at the end of this year.
The starlet recently came out of a three-year retirement from performing in adult movies to play the role of Samantha in New Sensations’ upcoming parody of “Sex in the City.”
“It was one of those things where I was thinking about going back into the adult business," she explained. “I was in the business for 16 years. I was very burned out, had been there, done that, own multiple companies, an internet company, there was not really anything I could do that I hadn’t done.
“I really was burned out as an artist and business person. I was completely uninspired and I’m really happy I made the decision I did to take time off and go to film school and try this avenue and see where it goes. I really needed to do something different and be inspired. If you don’t grow, you die.”
Andrews said that “Sex in the City” director Lee Roy Myers had first contacted her to do New Sensations’ recently released “Golden Girls” parody. Then a month later she received another call from Myers that fit what she envisioned for a comeback vehicle.
“I even have a T-shirt that says ‘I Am Samantha,’ so it’s not a far throw from who I am really as a person,” Andrews said with a laugh. “Oh my God, it was such a fun character to play even though it’s porn. And I got to show off my fabulous wardrobe. … I was rockin’ all the good shit. I really enjoy [Lee Roy’s] work and he’s from the East Coast as well, so when we met we got along right away. So it was like, ‘fuck I guess I’m doing this.’”
Andrews performs the first anal scene of her career with Danny Mountain in the movie, in addition to a four-way all-girl scene and a g/g with Zoe Voss.
“Since I came back I’ve gotten a really, really good response. I’m happy to kind of be back home,” said Andrews, who is also poised to soon develop new projects for her adult production company Britco Pictures.
Among Andrews’ other ongoing producing endeavors are a documentary called “Stage Brother” and a play titled “Porning the Planet.”
For more information, visit www.crumblethemovie.com.
Tickets to the premiere can be purchased through NYFilmVideo.com.
