Norm Ash was about 27 years old when she broke up with her then-boyfriend. At the time, Ash didn’t have much money or a place to live.
what did he do?
He moved to his grandparents’ house.
“I lived with them for over a year,” Ash says. “It was a great year, but to be honest, I was so frustrated and embarrassed about it all. I didn’t want anyone to know we were living together. But my manager at the time thought it was hysterical. She said, ‘I have to write something about this.’ And I did, and this is the result. ”
This is a romantic comedy written by and starring Bookends, in which Ash plays the role of aspiring novelist Ash, who finds romance with her grandparents’ doctor (Charlie Barnett) after discovering that her boyfriend (Spencer Belko) is having an affair with a spin instructor (Jared Reinfeldt).
Bookends by Norm Ash and Charlie Barnett
Ash’s grandparents died before the Mike Doyle-directed film was made. “They knew I was writing this piece and that it was actually a love letter to them,” Ash says.
Caroline Aaron and F. Murray Abraham play Nate’s grandparents. As the film progresses, the grandfather begins to show signs of dementia. “For my mother and aunt, it’s their father,” Ash says. “When they saw the movie, they were like, ‘Oh my god, this is my dad.’ My mom asked me if I had shown the video of Murray’s grandpa. I was like, ‘No.’ It’s all in the text, honey. My mother said, “How does he know all the manners and hand gestures and everything? ‘It was like, ‘
Not only is Ash openly gay, but Barnett is also openly gay. Authentic casting was important to Ash and Doyle. “That was something Mike and I talked about a lot,” Ash says. “We also wanted to show that Jews come in all shades, shapes, and sizes, and that Charlie’s mother is actually Jewish. He said, ‘I wasn’t raised Jewish.’ I said, ‘Okay, we’ll claim you.'”
Bookends by F. Murray Abraham and Caroline Aaron
Ashe admitted that he was initially worried that it would be difficult to find a distributor for the film, amid increasing political attacks targeting the queer community.
But then a “heated rivalry” appeared.
“I think they proved in the absolute biggest way that you can make probably the sexiest, gayest, most homoerotic show ever made on television and still have huge mainstream success,” Ash says. “That put my mind at ease.”
“Bookends” will premiere at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival on February 9th.
