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July 30, 2005Parent stars support sonFamily in TC for movie's showingByRecord-Eagle features editor It was a little like deja vu all over again. This week found Judy and Allen Wagner on a road trip in their black 2003 Honda Odyssey. They were coming from New York City to attend the Traverse City Film Festival. It's the same van they took for another road trip two summers ago when they spent 37 days traveling from New York to California, all part of acting in their son's independent film, "The Talent Given Us." The film is featured in the festival. Judy and Allen Wagner decided they couldn't miss being here with their son, Andrew Wagner. They'll all be at both screenings. With daughters Emily and Maggie playing their daughters in the film, the Wagners drove across the country in the summer of 2003 to portray a family going to California to visit a son/brother with whom they'd fallen somewhat out of touch. Andrew Wagner directed and played the role of the son/brother in California. A few other actors rounded out the cast. A two-man crew did the shooting. Andrew Wagner, now 42, first conceived the film's premise when he was in graduate school. He set the script aside and forgot about it until 14 years later. "I dusted off the script ... and before I finished reading it, I knew this was the film I was going to make in an attempt to bust open the door to my career," he said. He and his then-fiancee, now wife, had saved $30,000 to buy a house. But that wasn't going to go far in L.A., and she agreed to let him invest it in the film. Shortly after, Andrew Wagner woke up one night knowing he had to cast his parents. "Anytime I thought about the film, I could only see their faces," he said. So, he asked them. "My mother's actual words were, 'Who wants to look at my fat face for two hours?' " Wagner recalled. "My father said, 'You're wasting your life. What's happening to you?' " They came around, and the result is a film that got an enthusiastic reception at the Sundance Film Festival. In New York, the film drew high attendance and good reviews after its June run. It will soon hit screens in the Landmark chain, which has theaters in 20 markets nationwide. Meanwhile, his parents have gone back to their regular lives, if you don't count the interviews they do to help promote the film. Judy Wagner is retired from a 23-year job editing the American Journal of Cardiology. Allen Wagner, 73, is a retired stockbroker. "The Talent Given Us," with Andrew, Judy and Allen Wagner attending, will be shown at 4 p.m. today at the Old Town Playhouse and 4 p.m. Sunday at the State Theatre in Traverse City.
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