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The Book of Caleb
108 minutes Comedy / IndieFlix Official Selections
A comfortable underachiever and serial prankster, in the midst of their quarter life crisis, reunite against childhood enemies in a contemporary suburban epic.
Intended Audience: Mature
A bittersweet fairytale “hangover of the coming of age” story, The Book of Caleb plays as a quirky and tender study of the quarter-life crisis.
When unfocused wanderer Caleb Callahan (Jeremy Luno) returns home to suburban Bucks County, Pennsylvania and reunites with childhood friends Montag (Michael Hampton) and Swank (Nikitas Manikatos), he finds himself swept into a dangerous anti-adulthood highlighted with overblown enemies and high concept pranks.
Love interest Cole (Mackenzie Firgens) somewhat grounds Caleb, but as the stakes get higher for the man-boy to stand up for his beliefs against the comic tyranny of real estate mogul James Paddington (Paul Gleason) and off-kilter Officer Scar (Jeff Berg), Caleb finds all his stability pulled out from under him, the questions of his existence diminished to those of friendship, loyalty and righteousness.
I began writing the script when I was 19 and at FSU, and it was right
around the time I began to really see how big the world was, and in turn
how small my life was back in Bucks County, PA.
I designed one of the characters, Montag, as my personal champion, an
eerie premonition of the kind of person I would have to become to make a
feature film in suburban Philly that would be taken seriously. A character
that lives with his parents and sacrifices everything to accomplish his
goals.
So I came back, and began assembling piece by piece all the elements that
would bring this idea into reality. What surprised me the most was the
spirit of my classmates. I had honestly thought this film would be a
no-budget kind of thing, shot on black and white, or video. But it was the
passion of my friends that allowed us to shoot 35. The crew worked for
free, and the community took us in with food and shelter during out
grueling months of production.
Now as the project that had defined my identity for most of my 20’s is
finally drawling to a close. After all the ups and downs, the big plays
made by people that I never would have guessed, the inconceivable let
downs of my few "sure things", and the sizzling creativity of some truly
brilliant and hard working individuals. It leaves me with a great feeling
of emptiness. Why? Because we did it. Together we somehow kept this
thing’s nose up, and that will never be taken away from any of us that
poured our guts into this little
- Directed by: Matthew Von Manahan
- Written by: Michael English, Joseph Valenti, and Matthew Von Manahan
- Produced by: Grant Fenster
- Run Time: 108 minutes
- Release Date: 2008
-
Country:
United States of America
- Intended Audience: mature
- Website The Book of Caleb
Written by Michael English, Joseph Valenti, and Matthew Von Manahan
Produced by Grant Fenster
Cast
Jeremy Luno:
Mackenzie Firgens:
Michael Hampton:
Nikitas Manikatos:
Jeff Berg:
Paul Gleason:
Billy Tanner:
Joseph A. Fluehr IV:
Patrick M. Reynolds:
Thomas Bryan:
Billy Gartner:
Cary Barker:
Brett Jacobsen:
Bill McLaughlin:
Von Wilson:
Ilya Gelman:
Adam Grainger:
John Jennings Boyd:
Adele Romanski:
Morgan Hanner:
Michael Gioulakis:
John Taylor Feltner:
John Taylor Feltner:
Christopher W. Bailey:
Joe Chang:
Sean Crispin:
Paul Gleason:
Shane Bissett:
Aaron M. Zudick:
Caitlin R. Carroll:
Jen Wechsler:
Ginger Fries:
Sarah Pelkey:
Inna Levin:
Barb Cooper:
JP Perry:
Ms. Christi Leftwich:
Elissa Cohn:
Steven Maund:
Shane Sauer:
Daniel Warner:
Jeff Powers:
Jason Prowell:
Brian Jerardi:
David Briggs:
Duane A. Wood:
Sean Crispin:
Emily Estelle Eifert:
Jeffery Cox:
Greg Kochan:
Jeff Jones:
Russ Byars:
Kurt Steiner:
George Haines:
Daryl Eisenberg:
Brett Jacobsen:
Hutson Hayward:
Peter R. Berg:
Morgan Hanner:
Joshua Rosenfield:
Shant Ergenian:
Kevin Colahan:
Danny Gioulakis:
Stewart Hopewell:
YouGuys Media, LLC:
Jared Polin:
Ari Halbkram:
Ailene Roberts:
Kyle Monaghan:
Mark Atwood:
Rich Kaplinski:
Cody Moniot:
Andrew Young:
Shaughnessy Hare:
Shaughnessy Hare:
Derrick Espino:
Jackie Oster:
Tommy Burkle:
Barb Noren:
Michelle Montgomery:
Caoimhe Doyle:
Stefan Fraticelli:
Ron Mellegers:
Stephen Muir:
Marilee Yorston:
Erik Røsholt:
Morgan Hanner:
Matt Veligdan:
Matt Veligdan:
Carlos Alvarez:
John Jennings Boyd:
Matt Veligdan:
Eric Hachikian:
John Jennings Boyd:
Jiseon Kim:
Melissa Chang Baker:
Sam Breene:
Michael Vuoso:
Sam Adams:
Madalyne Cross:
Christopher Jenkins:
Lev Zhurbin:
Rebecca Cherry:
Jiseon Kim:
Ben Lively:
Una Tone:
Chie Yoshinaka:
The entire film was produced from the basement of the director's parents' home.
The Book of Caleb is the final on-screen appearance of Paul Gleason.
In the scene with Tanner throwing water-balloons and vomiting all over him, the vomit is real.