> June 5, 2003 > Arts > Film

"Actually, it's a romantic comedy without the romance," he says. "One of the actors, Jason Fleece, says that it adheres to, yet defies, the conventions of the romantic comedy."

Even for the director, it seems that Bitch doesn't lend itself to easy description. The press kit compares it to Clerks, then goes on, tongue obviously in cheek, to say that a comparison to Clerks is almost a requirement for independent film projects these days. Similarities to Wayne's World and The Blair Witch Project are also mentioned. It includes a character called Bitch, and she is killed. Though her existence serves as a motivator for much of the action of the film, her death is a minor, off-screen incident in a sprawling series of misadventures.

It goes something like this: Film student Kevin Spilker's final project is due in class on Monday. It's Friday as the film starts, and he has done nothing. He cooks up a half-assed plan to follow a friend around, film his life for the weekend and call it a documentary. The entire film is seen through Kevin's camera, hence The Blair Witch comparison. He chooses Eugene as his subject; actually he is the only one of Kevin's friends to agree. But Eugene is a loser. His last girlfriend was imaginary and even she cheated on him. He once dated Bitch -- his friends gave her the name -- and he still feels controlled by her. The action, or lack thereof, begins at the movie theater where Eugene works.

Nothing is happening, to Kevin's dismay, until a beautiful woman comes in. She is the girl of Eugene's dreams, and the rest of the film follows his attempts, aided by his friends Stanley and Quentin, to find her after she leaves the theater. Along the way they encounter drug-addled George, play strip-pool and get attacked by a samurai-sword-wielding madman. The action is interspersed with short flashbacks to some of their prior escapades, including a dead hooker and an encounter with the mob. Strange as it sounds, it all ties together and makes sense in the context of the film.

Nickel founded his production company Five Cent Productions shortly after his graduation from Point Park College with a theater degree in 2000. Work on the movie that would become Why We Had to Kill Bitch began shortly thereafter.

Nickel sounds animated and energetic as he relates the details and history of the project. "It was originally called W.I.M.P.," he says. "It stood for White Intelligent Male People, but we refilmed the whole thing." The original film was filled with problems with sound and picture quality. He spent almost a year in post-production trying to fix it before deciding to start over.

"It was both excruciating and depressing for me," Nickel says. "I was involved in a lawsuit with my former director, and I was starting over after what felt like wasting two years of my life. But it paid off. It became a different movie and needed a different name." The title is designed to grab attention and it does, some of it negative. "We only lost one sponsor due to the title," he laughs. "That's not too bad."

Bitch was filmed in Pittsburgh over the course of 13 days in the summer of 2002. The first scheduled day of shooting coincided with the storm phenomenon called the macroburst. Half the city was blacked out, including the locations of the shoot. Trying hard not to see this as an omen, Nickel persevered.

The film reveals Nickel's laid-back approach to directing. He allows his actors a lot of leeway with the script and action. "I would usually do a couple of takes for any given scene," he says, speaking quickly. "Then I would announce, 'Okay, this is the fun take,' and just let the camera run. Some of the best scenes in the movie resulted from the improv that the actors came up with. "John [Yost], who played Stanley, was really good. We would say, 'John, let the Bad Man out,' and he would just run with it." Yost has a number of film and television credits, including Inspector Gadget and West Wing. The cast is rounded out by a number of Pittsburgh stage veterans, including Gregory Caridi (Eugene), Anthony J. Bishop (Kevin), Allison McAtee (Heather), and Kristin Pfeifer as the Bitch.

Bitch is a visual treat. Viewers need to pay close attention to what happens on the sidelines as well as the main action. Some of the film's funniest moments occur between characters standing in the background. It pays to stick around for the closing credits as well; as they roll, George -- portrayed by Jason Steele -- rambles through a largely improvised monologue, detailing more of the past adventures of the cast. It's long but hilarious.

"It's a pleasant surprise if it comes out wonderfully, like this movie has," Nickel says. "But there's always that lingering fear that it could all just blow up in your face. I hope you like what you see. But if you don't, please remember that this was as much everyone else's fault as it is mine."