This Valentine’s 2015, romance-minded moviegoers can choose between the girl-meets-bondage story of Fifty Shades of Grey, in which a couple explores their dark desires, or its polar opposite, Old Fashioned, about two broken people coming out of the dark into real love. Old Fashioned launched its trailer and debuted its key promotional artwork today.
“The timing of it all definitely provides a stark contrast—and that’s the point,” Old Fashioned writer/director/star Rik Swartzwelder said. “The conversation should be pushed. Not all fantasy is harmless and not all paths lead to true and lasting love. We have two movies here, both about people with troubled pasts . . . but both taking very different approaches to getting romance right.”
The romantic-drama, Old Fashioned centers on Clay Walsh (Swartzwelder), a former frat boy who gives up his carousing ways and now runs an antique shop in a small Midwestern college town. There, he has become notorious for his lofty and outdated theories on love and romance. When Amber Hewson (Elizabeth Ann Roberts), a free-spirited young woman with a restless soul, drifts into the area and rents the apartment above his shop, she finds herself surprisingly drawn to his noble ideas.
Watch the trailer here:
And Clay, though he tries to fight and deny it, simply cannot resist being attracted to her spontaneous and passionate embrace of life. Ultimately, Clay must step out from behind his relational theories, and Amber must overcome her own fears and deep wounds, as the two of them, together, attempt the impossible: an “old-fashioned” courtship in contemporary America.
“The wheels of Old Fashioned were in motion long before the Fifty Shades of Grey book got to Hollywood,” Swartzwelder said. “We didn’t create our film in response to any other specific book or film, at all . . . but the decision to hold-off on our release so it could open alongside Fifty Shades of Grey? Yes, that was indeed deliberate.”
“We thought it was a unique opportunity to set up a film as antidote,” he continued. “Think of a young woman you care about . . . which love story would you wish for her?”
Amber (Elizabeth Ann Roberts) is falling in love with Clay (Rik Swartzwelder); Photo Courtesy of Skoche Films.
News of Old Fashioned facing off with Fifty Shades of Grey drew international attention in leading media outlets.
- MTV understood Swartzwelder’s choice: “There’s a faith-based film about ‘old-fashioned courtship’ hitting theaters on the exact same day as the sinful, S&M-filled adaptation of Fifty Shades of Grey. And if you thought that was some sort of divine coincidence, you’d be wrong. This is a challenge.”
- Britain’s Daily Mail headlined its story, “Trading bondage for Bibles: Christian movie takes on Fifty Shades of Grey at the box office with its ‘godly romance’ alternative”
- E! Online clearly captured audience options: “If you want to see a love story this coming Valentine’s Day, you can either go to the very clean and tame end of the spectrum, or you can go to the other end of the spectrum that leads to the red room of pain. Your choice.”
Amber (Elizabeth Ann Roberts) feels her defenses crumble and her trust rise with Clay (Rik Swartzwelder); Photo Courtesy of Skoche Films.
“Fifty Shades of Grey will attract that book’s readers and a lot of curiosity,” Old Fashioned Producer Nathan Nazario said. “The Old Fashioned audience will include people drawn to real life, real love. Of course, we’re after conversations prompted by two contrasting takes on sex, love and romance . . . on what men and women really want, and what it takes to get it.”
In addition to Roberts (Criminal Minds, Southland, CSI) and Swartzwelder (The Least of These), Old Fashioned features Dorothy Silver (The Shawshank Redemption), Tyler Hollinger (Black Dog), LeJon Woods (Homemakers), Nini Hadjis (Cross-Eyed Dinner Theater Presents!), Maryann Nagel (Into the Storm), Joseph Bonamico (Miami Vice), Lindsay Heath, Anne Marie Nestor (One Life to Live) and Ange’le Perez.
Old Fashioned is produced by Swartzwelder’s Skoche Films, Nazario of Motion Picture Pro Studios, Dave DeBorde and Nini Hadjis. Freestyle Releasing distributes. Freestyle recently released the faith-based drama God’s Not Dead, which surpassed $60 million in domestic box office receipts.
Tyndale House Publishers releases two books based on the movie: Old Fashioned, a screenplay novelization by Rene Gutteridge, and a non-fiction devotional, The Old Fashioned Way—Reclaiming the Lost Art of Romance, on relationships and dating, and written by Ginger Kolbaba.
Clay (Rik Swartzwelder) admires Amber (Elizabeth Ann Roberts) in “Old Fashioned”; Photo Courtesy of Skoche Films.
Advance praise for Old Fashioned, the novel, captures its heart:
“In a world where adultery is rampant and lust is exalted, it’s time for a new outlook on romance,” said LifeChurch. TV’s Amy Groeschel, co-author of From This Day Forward. “Refreshingly quirky with a compelling plot, Old Fashioned is a divinely romantic tale of two hurting souls that discover a not-so-new but spectacular way of pursuing love.”
In The Old Fashioned Way—Reclaiming the Lost Art of Romance, award-winning author and speaker Ginger Kolbaba pens 40 daily readings that show—contrary to popular opinion—”old fashioned” doesn’t mean dull or unromantic. A true old-fashioned relationship, Kolbaba said, can be more exciting and romantic than any alternatiive.
To find out more, check out OldFashioned.com
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