Bender '97 Melds Film into Parody Form

Author: Susan Goehring

On Sunday in the Dana Auditorium, Hollywood screenwriter Michael Bender '97 came to speak and show his work to the Middlebury College community.
Bender is currently working on his latest film titled "Fist Full of Candy," a Halloween movie due out this October of 2004. He only needed one year to complete writing this most recent venture, which he intends to target children in addition to the slightly more senior crowd.
Bender is best known for his work in the "spoof" genre of film screenwriting. He has composed numerous short films created primarily for comic relief during the MTV Movie Awards.
"Sex and the Matrix" stars Sarah Jessica Parker and her "Sex and the City" female brigade along with Jimmy Fallon taking on the tough role of the Matrix's Neo, Keanu Reeves. Tom Cruise and Ben Stiller, two stylistically conflicting actors, star in a parody of "Mission Impossible."
Bender said his short pieces exist as "a good look alike for the films," and "that's what makes the films special."
One spoof on "Project Greenlight," co-starring Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, the show's co-producers, was also shown on Sunday night.
This presentation at the College was somewhat of a premiere screening. According to Bender, "everyone was drinking and no one actually watched the film" at its original presentation venue, a year-end celebration for the Miramax Film Corporation.
Aside from these undersized clips, the full-length movie, "Not Another Teen Movie," which culminates in parodies of numerous "teen" films ranging from "Scary Movie" to "Grease," stands out as Bender's most famous work. Despite his effort and endless forced viewings of those movies-you'll-never-admit-to-have-seen-but-secretly-loved-anyway, this self-titled "drug addicted, unwed mother of all teen movies" was not kindly received by the majority of critics.
With his Antonio Banderas-esque looks, knack for writing, and witty mentality, Bender has made a vibrant name for himself in the world of Hollywood film-making, just as he did while at Middlebury.
Lecturer and Tutor-In-Writing Barbara Ganley, after having Bender in class, explained that his parodies were "destined for the screen" while writing as an undergraduate. Having completed his first screenplay one year after graduating from Middlebury College, there doesn't seem to be an end in sight to his constant flow of amusingly original ideas.
His drive to produce remains stalwart and his ego resilient despite the poor reviews for "Not Another Teen Movie." The way Bender sees it, "If you throw enough s--t at the wall, something's gonna stick."
Didn't we all learn as children that candy is quite adherent? We'll all have to anxiously await the sweet tasting holiday season of 2004 for this unveiling of Bender's future.