We had what was, I believe, the first public screening of Cap City, aka Mickey Spillane’s Cap City, at the Last Picture House in Davenport as part of the Quad Cities Alternating Currents arts festival. This happened on Saturday evening, August 16.

It wasn’t a full house – this festival is enormous with an unimaginable amount of stuff going on – but the third-of-a-house we had really seemed to like it, and the Q and A session I did after was smart and fun. Seeing Cap City on a big screen, with full sound, was a revelation – I had only seen it at home on my 55″ TV. But a huge screen and booming sound – in a dark room with a bunch of others – was a wholly different experience. For one thing, nuances in the performances of our large cast were revealed. And it looked great, with its black-and-white noir style and somewhat cinema verité shooting approach.

Though this isn’t the final “locked” version, it is only shy a couple of requests I made to director David Wexler, which he will make. The final version will go out on the festival circuit later this year.

Max and Barb with uber-fans Mike and Jackie White, who drove three hours to attend the Cap City screening.

The story of Cap City goes back half a dozen years, at least, when David approached me about licensing (and attaching me as screenwriter to) the novella “A Bullet for Satisfaction.” This was the fairly ancient novella begun by Mickey Spillane, found by me in Mickey’s files, and completed/revised by me for inclusion in The Last Stand. That novel was Mickey’s last completed work, but it fell a little short of what was needed for a book. I did not feel this final novel required me jumping on as a collaborator, but I did edit it, and finished/polished “A Bullet for Satisfaction” as the opening salvo of the book.

David thought the novella was a perfect distillation of Mickey’s noirish approach. I came aboard as a co-producer and delivered a script in 2020. It got a considerable amount of interest, but by (I think) 2022 David asked me if I’d be willing to rewrite the script’s protagonist from a tough male cop to a just-as-tough female. With my Ms. Tree history, I was fine with that, since we had interest from several credible actresses in doing Cap City if the female was the lead. It would also put some spin on that a more traditional male lead would have brought.

As is often case, we had considerable brushes with a green light for the project, which was designed to be a $3 million indie. It would have involved locations including the murder scene (a hotel suite), various government buildings, a bookstore, a bar, the protagonist’s apartment, a boathouse, a small yacht and assorted others. It was ambitious for the budget, but very doable. Both David and I have a lot of experience with working on a budget for an indie film.

Last year David called and was sad to say it seemed like it was time to move on. He just couldn’t find the budget. I had recently completed Blue Christmas, which had also been written for multiple locations but which I had turned into a one-set production, getting it made as opposed to being just an un-produced script in my desk drawer. I suggested to David that we use that approach – I would so a rewrite that took place entirely at the hotel suite where the murder went down, and have the suspects brought to the detective at the scene for questioning.

David loved the idea, and I wrote the script and he got the necessary funding, and had just the right actress for Roz, Erica Munez of HBO’s Long Gone By, and a big cast of East Coast actors with more credits than you could shake a stick at.

Here’s where it gets fun.

David calls me and wants me on set for the shoot. But I can’t, because the Day One of the Cap City shoot is also Day One of the Death by Fruitcake shoot, which I am directing.

And so it was that I had two movies shooting simultaneously. That’s a bizarre first but a fun one.

Look for Cap City at the film festivals and, soon after, streaming.

On the Death by Fruitcake front, it looks like we’ll be making a distribution deal later this week.

M.A.C.