Review Fix Exclusive: Madeleine Olnek Talks ‘Foxy Merkins’

December 8, 2014 Patrick Hickey Jr. Film 0

Review Fix chats with director Madeleine Olnek, who discusses her film “Foxy Merkins,” currently enjoying a theatrical run in New York City. From Sundance to Lincoln Center, the film had quite the festival run before being unleashed on theatrers, thanks to a plethora of fan support and positive reviews.

Review Fix: How does it feel to see the film in theaters after the whole festival run?

Madeleine Olnek: It’s great! We are delighted to have several shows a day during our run. In our festival run, we went all over the world, from Sundance to the Moscow International Film Festival, from BAMCinemaFEST to Lincoln Center.

Review Fix: What was the relationship like on set?

Olnek: With the actors it was great—I love working with actors. With all the people on the streets of NYC who we were stopping traffic to get our shots, not so good.

Review Fix: There aren’t many films like this. It’s almost hard to put in a genre. How would you explain the basic plot to someone?

Olnek: Easy—I would say it’s a feel-good lesbian hooker movie, a buddy comedy about a lesbian who wants to be a prostitute, and her straight, grifter-like female friend who is better at picking up women than she is. They hit the road and have all kinds of wild adventures. But first and foremost, it is the story of a friendship. And it’s a comedy.

Review Fix: What makes this film special?

Olnek: Personally, I think it’s the knockout performances by the extraordinary downtown NY actors in the film. That, and the fact that no studio was controlling us and we could pursue any line of comedy we wanted. Laura Terruso, the producer, described the film as kind of a live action “South Park.”

Review Fix: Who do you think will enjoy this film the most?

Olnek: I think anyone who enjoys comedy will enjoy this film. And, anyone who enjoys a cheap date.

Review Fix: What does it feel like to have garnered such critical acclaim from several different outlets?

Olnek: We’ve been thrilled by our great reviews, even the reviewers who haven’t felt it was exactly their cup of tea conceded the film was “hilarious.” That’s always enough for me to jump in a cab to see someone else’s film, so I’m very pleased. It is what we were aiming for.

Review Fix: How do you want this film to be remembered?

Olnek: When we’ve had magical screenings of “The Foxy Merkins” and people say, “I’ve never laughed so much in my life”—that’s how we want it to be remembered. That, and that it was the weirdest film they ever saw.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14263 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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