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When Five & Two Pictures releases their movie, Me & You, Us, Forever, into theaters on February 15th; most Hollywood marketing experts would say they won't have much going for them.

How does a small company with very little promotional money and no big name actors put a movie in the theaters and expect people to come see it? The producer of the movie, Dave Christiano, has an answer.

"You do it with what you think and hope is a good story," said Dave, "a real love story."


Dave Christiano and Kathryn Worsham

Christiano has produced a film that is unique for Hollywood standards in that his love story won't have any sex or anything that even hints in that direction. Rather, his film is a sentimental drama that aims to touch the heart, is very real, and is something that anyone who has ever been in love can honestly relate to.

Me & You, Us, Forever is the story of a 47 year old Christian man who is on the other side of an unwanted divorce. Troubled by it all, he starts to reminisce about his old high school girlfriend, who was his first love, and whom he dated for 2 years, 4 months, and 28 days.


First love is hard to beat

"A first love is hard to beat," states Dave. "When a 17 year old boy dates a 16 year girl for that length of time, during a stage of life when hearts are so very tender, you never forget or really get over your first love. To me, there is no greater feeling, and I've tried to capture that with this movie."

The film is set in 2004 and then flashes back to 1974. We see through the eyes of the main character this relationship he once held so dear. Christiano took a page out of his own life to produce his film. "This movie is inspired by a real life person," says Dave. "Part of what this movie portrays is something that really happened."

Casting the movie had an interesting twist.

On August 19, 2004, something pretty incredible happened for Dave. "I received an E-mail from a mother in Texas who wanted to know if her daughter could audition for any upcoming film projects," said Dave. "This woman had sent a link to her daughter's head shot so I clicked on it and as soon as I did, I was stunned."Click to enlarge


Kathryn Worsham

The photo was that of a 15 year old actress named Kathryn Worsham. What took Dave by great surprise was that she looked almost exactly like his old girlfriend of whom this movie was going to be based on.

"I sat there for a moment and was truly amazed. Here I am getting ready to cast this movie and I had never intended to cast someone who looked like the real person of the story."

Christiano arranged for Kathryn to do an audition. "After seeing her, I knew I had my 16 year old," he said.

Production was not being planned until 2006 and when that time would roll around, Kathryn would be 17, the right age for the character.

The movie tells the story of a teenage couple from western New York who met on January 5th, 1974 and dated until June 2nd, 1976. The actual production of the film began on June 3rd, 2006, some 30 years later.

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