Stairway to the Stars

One hot, smoggy afternoon, Lavergne (SEAN YOUNG) and Tony (QUINTON AARON) attempt to climb an absurdly steep flight of outdoor steps in the Hollywood Hills. Lavergne wishes she were back in her apartment watching "The Match Game" and eating Cheetos. Tony refuses to give up on her, goads her up the stairs with a mixture of brutality and real tenderness. Humorous, tragic, and deeply touching, Lavergne and Tony's story reveals itself between the bottom of the stairs and the top, mined by the filmmakers for its maximum seriocomic potential. Based on a real incident witnessed by DeStefano when he first moved to Hollywood from Honolulu, and later produced as a One-Act play, the film explores the complex relationship between friends who are enemies and enemies who are friends. Lorenzo's film is a tribute to Nathanael West's "The Day of the Locust", the plays of Samuel Beckett, and to the countless two-reel comedies shot in these very hills over 100 years ago.