NEW CANAAN — Mike Covino wanted to do two things — play football and make films.
The New Canaan High grad has done both, and his first feature film, “The Climb,” opens in some theaters nationwide Friday.
Covino wrote, directed and starred in the film, which tells the story of the relationship between two longtime friends, and how the actions of one affect the other person.
“It’s definitely a movie you’ll laugh when you see,” said Covino, 35.
“The emotions of the characters are very real and they’re dealing with very real things,” he said. “I think what we were trying to do was explore dark situations and experiences people have in life and find humor in it. There’s darkness, but we find optimism and beauty.”
Covino plays Mike, the creator of challenges that are then shared with his longtime friend, Kyle, played by Kyle Marvin, who he began working with after they met while shooting a commercial in New York City 11 years ago.
They made a short film by the same name similar to the opening sequence of “The Climb,” which opened at the Sundance Film Festival in Colorado to positive reviews. That experience and subsequent shorts taught Covino and Marvin how to seek out financing for other projects, now including their film.
The feature-length version of “The Climb,” released by Sony Pictures Classics, premiered in 2019 at the Cannes Film Festival, winning a jury award.
“It was about as wild and crazy a premiere of a first film as you can expect. It was the wildest premiere we ever could have imagined,” Covino said of walking the red carpet with Hollywood A-listers and meeting Quentin Tarantino at dinner.
“It was a wild departure from a few months prior, with three people sitting in an empty room trying to figure out how to patch this together,” Covino said.
Covino, who quarterbacked New Canaan High School when the Rams won state football championships in 2001 and 2002, first attended Fordham University, majoring in business. But theater classes at Lincoln Center were on the schedule during the off-season, and he eventually transferred to Occidental College, where he finished college and played football.
Written in early 2018, “The Climb” was shot that fall, with a few scenes finished in February 2019.
“The trajectory of the film was pretty quick,” Covino said.
After Cannes, there was a March 20 premiere scheduled and an event was envisioned for the New Canaan Playhouse. But the COVID-19 pandemic altered those plans.
But the movie can be seen this weekend at the Bow Tie Cinemas Majestic 6 in Stamford, among other theaters.
Those who watch “The Climb” will see some local sights, such as a New Canaan High School football helmet in the trailer.
“I think people who know me will probably appreciate the portrayal of these types of families. It takes place kind of in this region, in the Hudson Valley area, and has this blue collar, East Coast family vibe to it,” said Covino, who splits his time among New York, New Canaan and Los Angeles.
“I’m a little nomadic,” he said.
The local similarities do not carry over into the characters.
“The characters are not in any way based on who we are,” Covino said. “They’re just characters we created and were excited about.”
While not personal reflections, the characters in “The Climb” are recognizable to most, Covino said.
“You can’t help but reflect on your own life, people you’ve lost touch with, and people you should have lost touch with,” he said. “Maybe we don’t have to question it. Maybe we just have to accept that some people never change.”
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November 11, 2020 at 07:00PM
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