Producer/co-writer Ira Glass and writer/director/comedian/actor Mike Birbiglia are doing everything but knocking on your door and driving you to the theater in order to get you to see the limited release of their comedy, Sleepwalk with Me, as evident in this new clip promoting the film. Originally scheduled to open in 30+ theaters, thanks to an active campaign by Glass and Birbiglia Sleepwalk with Me will now show in 98 theaters.
Birbiglia put together a list of 200 theaters that regularly host films released via IFC Films and called upon his Twitter followers to help get the movie onto more screens using the hashtag #bringsleepwalk. The campaign worked, and the number of theaters dramatically increased. “At this point, we’ve almost tripled our theater count, just through this grassroots campaign,” said Birbiglia.
Sleepwalk with Me features Birbiglia, Lauren Ambrose, Carol Kane, James Rebhorn, and Cristin Milioti.
The Plot:
“I’m going to tell you a story and it’s true… I always have to tell people that,” so asserts comedian-turned-playwright-turned-filmmaker Mike Birbiglia directly to the viewer at the outset of his autobiographically inspired, fictional feature debut. Birbiglia wears his incisive wit on his sleeve while portraying a cinematic surrogate. We are thrust into the tale of a burgeoning stand-up comedian struggling with the stress of a stalled career, a stale relationship threatening to race out of his control, and the wild spurts of severe sleepwalking he is desperate to ignore.
Based on the successful one-man show, Sleepwalk with Me engages in the kind of passionate and personal storytelling that transfigures intimate anguish into comic art.
