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Martin Scorsese, Ethan Hawke and John Turturro are listed as advisers on a new proposal to buy the former Metro Theatre, which closed in 2005.
By Annie Aguiar
After nearly two decades of failed attempts to reopen, a historic Upper West Side movie theater may be resurrected thanks to a potential new client’s plan and a celebrity’s support.
Independent film producer Ira Deutchman is spearheading the project, along with Adeline Monzier, the United States representative of French film promoter Unifrance and a guest programmer at Metrograph, a theater on the Lower East Side. They created the Upper West Side Cinema Center, a nonprofit corporation, whose advisors include Martin Scorsese, Ethan Hawke, and John Turturro, along with Bob Balaban, Griffin Dunne, and American Psycho director Array Mary Harron. (They’d call it the Metro Cinema Center. )
Representatives of Scorsese and Dunne showed their involvement.
The plan was previously reported via IndieWire.
The proposal includes a five-screen room dedicated to auteur premieres, old films and special events; It would also have a center and a cafeteria.
Mark Levine, Manhattan’s borough president, said he has spoken with two other parties who are in talks with homeowners about a potential sale, but Deutchman’s proposal is the most comprehensive. The previous owner’s estate has still hired a broker for the sale, Levine said. .
Once a mecca for arthouse cinemas, the Upper West Side now features cinema options at Lincoln Center and giant multiplexes. “This is an underserved audience that’s part of a network that’s obviously interested in the kind of videos we’re talking about. about,” Deutchman said in an interview.
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