Eric Schaeffer and Donal Lardner Ward Archive

[Donny and Eric as two _Too Something_ guys]

You find yourself on a small page in the company of two of the most charming men you have ever met within the span of your short life. You stare at the picture for a moment trying to figure out why it looks vaguely familiar, and realize that you have Seen These Men Before [tm]; in fact, they've been on television, though briefly as of yet. Their show on Fox, _Too Something_, has been "on hiatus" nearly as long as it was on the air in the first place.

If you want to hear what Utopia Parkway has to say about Eric and Donnie's delightful television debut, turn to page 76 and invoke the following incantation to free the genie in the bottle and send word to kmpicker@midway.uchicago.edu: "Please, please, great genie, send me my very own copy of Utopia Parkway's review of _Too Something_ from way back in issue 7!!" And be sure to add a few magic words of your own. The genie works better when he's being charmed.

If you want to know what other people have said about Eric and Donny, keep following this page to its very end.

[The 'exuberant chemistry' of Donny and
Eric]

The Ten Year Overnight Success

Two would-be filmmakers finally make it to the screen- by playing themselves

In movie lingo, a film is in turnaround when a studio retains the rights without green-lighting production and the project dwells indefinately in cinematic purgatory. But in Eric Shaeffer and Donal Lardner Ward's _My Life's in Turnaround_, the first-time filmmakers have risen from a self-described "abyss of nothingness" to distinguish themselves amid a rash of brave new talent. "It's the classis ten-year overnight-success story," says Shaeffer, adding that before their less-than-meteoric rise, "I was ready to go to England and become a sheep farmer."

Instead, he and Ward defied the harsh realities of show biz, turned the cameras on their own weird lives, and made a shoestring budget movie about two underdogs defying the odds and making a movie. Like their onscreen counterparts, Shaeffer and Ward toiled as a cabdriver and a bartender for ten years, respectively, while trying various creative endeavors in vain. Finally, they embarked on a last-ditch effort to become successes- the making of this movie. Onscreen, they reveal and exuberant chemistry: "They're not informed enough to know that what they're trying to do is impossible, and that's why they do it anyway," Ward says of the idiot savant slackers played, naturally, by Schaeffer and himself. He swaers 90 percent of the movie actually occurred- from Phoebe Cates's materializing in Schaeffer's cab just as they were searching for stars to put in theur movie to Ward's unintentionally dating his therapist's daughter.

Ward and Schaeffer's comic misfortunes have paid off: They recently landed a deal with TriStar to write and direct another New York buddy picture called _Whatever Happened to Love at First Sight?_ They've just completed the script, but may not get to play themselves this time. "We're now at the mercy of the casting process," says Ward. "TriStar is trying to find stars who can portray us as well or better than we can." With characteristic guileless optimism, these guys secretly harbor the belief that they'll wind up playing themselves once again. - Erica Milvy; Elle (date unknown).

IF LUCY FELL

A TriStar Picture Written and Directed by Eric Shaeffer, who also Stars

"Wait, you're not Bwick!"

See Utopia Parkway[tm]'s own IF LUCY FELL review from the March, '96 issue.

Eric Shaeffer (Joe MacGonaughgill, writer, director) and the tree.

Also check out the incredibly swank Sony Pictures If Lucy Fell page