Filmmaker on a Mission - Port Chester man determined to fulfill dream before shipping out
by Hannan Adely

"I thought, first the bad news, I'm going to Iraq.  Then the good news, I'm making a movie before I go."

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PORT CHESTER - Monroe Mann Jr. has devoted the past two years of his life to a film he believes will be a hit.  He has enticed investors, negotiated with film distributors, and interested pop-rock stars Avril Lavigne and Sum 41 in performing on the soundtrack. 

Then, two weeks ago, an unexpected call changed the Port Chester resident's fate.  Mann, 26, learned he must leave for Army training May 15 before heading to Iraq, making his film impossible to finish as planned.

When Mann heard the news, his previous military training rang through his head: "No excuses, you've got to finish the mission," he told himself.

"I thought, first the bad news, I'm going to Iraq.  Then the good news, I'm making a movie before I go," Mann said this week.

So Mann, a member of the NY Army National Guard, came up with a new plan.  He decided to move forward with the film, trimming the budget from $5.5 million to around $200,000, and to get all the filming done in two weeks before he leaves for Iraq.

Mann's film company, Loco Dawn Films, LLC, in Manhattan, is seeking donations from supporters to help fulfill that goal.  Besides, being the film's producer, he is a co-writer and supporting actor.

The film, "In the Wake of Identity," is a comedic drama about a wakeboarder's rise to stardom.  It will be filmed in Orlando, Fla., which has a huge wakeboarding community.

Mann plans to slash costs by switching from 35-millimeter to high-definition film.  The quality is not as good, but he notes the success of the independent films, "Clerks" and "El Mariachi" [which were shot on very low budgets].

The $200,000 budget is a bare minimum, Mann said, and the more money raised, the better the film will be.

More than $300 has already been donated from supporters in Texas, Portugal, and Florida.  Many donations have come from fans of wakeboarding, a sport that combines snowboarding and waterskiing, and a central part of the film.

Mann, who grew up in Port Chester and Maine, started acting in plays while in high school.  He studied French and economics in college, but continued acting in plays, movies, and television during and after school.

But patriotism also tugged at him and in 1999, Mann joined the Army National Guard.  "As much as I want to be a superstar and movie star, I felt a need to serve in the military," he said.

In 2002, Mann started his film company, where he runs an actors' business school and has begun developing a television program.  That same year, he started putting his ideas onto paper for "In the Wake of Identity."

"I'm a passionate lover of the sport and every year, I'd wonder why there isn't a wakeboarding movie out," he said.

Mann was supposed to leave for a mission in Kosovo in January, but his unit's mission was later changed to Iraq.  "It's scary and exciting, going to war, going to serve the country," he said.

His father, Rye Town Attorney Monroe Mann, is a retired lieutenant colonel in the Air Force and fought in World War II.  He said he understands why his son must go to Iraq.

"I wish it weren't necessary but it is," he said.  "I think when you're in the military you have to take the assignment that is given to you and I think that the United States has a continuing obligation in Iraq, especially in regard to terrorist alerts."

Brett Duggan, an associate producer and actor in the film, said the news was hard to take after he and Mann put so much work into the project.  He said he was shocked and depressed, but soon grew inspired to forge ahead.

"We are looking at it from the point of view -- you're going to Iraq and and if we could do this, what a good story that would be," Duggan said.

Mann said he did not want to wait to return from Iraq to finish the movie.  The two-year wait could scare off investors, he said.  Plus, he said, the future was too uncertain.

"Nobody knows what's going to happen in two years in Iraq, fingers crossed," he said.