Arts
It was a marathon, not a sprint, says Gehan
Though Sri Lankan audiences know him for his classical baritone, Gehan Cooray has once again proved that he is capable of extraordinary things. With his first feature film ‘The Billionaire’ winning the prestigious award for Best Comedy Feature at the Burbank International Film Festival on September 13, we caught up with the singer-actor-producer for an insight into his exciting journey from stage to screen.
For a young filmmaker to win an award at a prestigious film festival for their very first feature film is practically unheard of. “For an immigrant Sri Lankan American like me to be rewarded in this manner makes my faith in God stronger than ever,” Gehan tells us.
‘The Billionaire’ is Gehan’s own contemporary, gender-swapped adaptation of George Bernard Shaw’s 1936 play ‘The Millionairess’. Gehan plays the lead role of Victor Ognisanti di Parerga, a young gay billionaire of Sri Lankan descent who is bound by the daunting conditions set by his beloved, deceased father in order to get married – which dictates that the suitor must turn $10,000 into $3 million in six months. After his first marriage to Alex falls through, Victor meets ‘The Doctor’ (Randy Wayne), a handsome and almost ascetically religious French American who comes with his own conditions for marriage. Together, the mighty billionaire and the humble doctor must work through their differences in their search for love and happiness together.
The Best Comedy Feature Award, means all the more to Gehan as he played multiple roles as the Executive Producer, Screenwriter, Lead Actor and Chief Editor/Post Production Supervisor. “I can’t imagine how I could have worn so many different hats at a relatively young age, on my very first feature film, had God not guided me through the process,” Gehan states. “It was a marathon, not a sprint.”
What makes this victory even sweeter is knowing how fraught with challenges the journey was. Though Gehan has worked on many short films before, he tells us that making a full feature length film was akin to going from primary school to a PhD programme. In particular, editing down his first cut of almost three hours to just under two hours was excruciatingly difficult, as much had to be left on the cutting room floor, which made Gehan wonder if the film was funny enough.
Directed by Michael Philip and produced by Gehan, the film also stars seven-time Emmy Award winner Heather Tom (from ‘The Bold and the Beautiful’ and ‘The Young and the Restless’), Jordan Belfi (‘Entourage), David Santos (‘Power Rangers’ tv franchise), and Randy Wayne (‘The Dukes of Hazzard’).
Gehan and above, a still from ‘The Billionaire’
Reviews for ‘The Billionaire’ praised multiple aspects of the film like the snappy dialogue, strong ensemble cast, and even the artistically-appropriate oversaturation of colours reminiscent of classic Hollywood films – something Gehan tells us he had to work hard to keep.
Gehan himself has been described as a ‘true artist’ in a Rotten Tomatoes review while Pasadena Weekly’s Carl Kozlowsk called the film “delightfully entertaining and a theatrical treat”.
The announcement that ‘The Billionaire’ had been selected as a finalist at this year’s virtual edition of the Burbank International Film Festival came as a well-deserved silver lining in an otherwise bleak time for independent filmmakers. It was also a poignant moment of circularity for Gehan as he spent time at the Warner Brothers studios in Burbank doing post-production for the film – he holds Burbank in high regard as the true media capital of the world with a film festival that celebrates deserving industry talent.
‘The Billionaire’ will enjoy a limited theatrical release in Los Angeles and New York once restrictions are lifted, with an eventual online release on certain platforms. Gehan is proud and thrilled that it will also be screened virtually for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the organisation responsible for the Golden Globe Awards.
Internationally, Gehan hopes to submit the film to certain European film festivals, and assures that a grand premiere and release of the film will also be scheduled in Sri Lanka. “I believe Colombo has also become a very cosmopolitan city with some very savvy film lovers,” Gehan says, adding that this George Bernard Shaw adaptation will appeal to lovers of drama and English literature.
