Mahershala Ali’s First Film ‘Taste the Revolution’ to Premiere at New Orleans Film Festival – Nearly 25 Years After It Was Made

Any director would love to land Mahershala Ali for their film. Now imagine getting the two-time Oscar-winner for your first feature. That’s what happened to Daniel Klein in 2000 when he hired the young actor to star in his film, which was never released or even formally presented outside screenings at a small regional film festival.”. But now, nearly 25 years later, a new movie cut from the countless hours of footage is taking the spotlight when “Taste the Revolution” premieres Oct. 19 at the New Orleans Film Festival. The film is also seeking distribution.

“It’s a strange thing to experience, and I’m really happy that audiences are going to have an opportunity to see it,” Ali tells Variety . “It’s been like this ghost limb in my life – something you know is there, something I experienced and was really moved by making and being a part of it. It just never got to meet its audience.”

Presented documentary-style, “Taste the Revolution” centers on a film crew following a charismatic leader named Mac Laslow (Ali) as he organizes a movement for disillusioned youth. Exactly what they’re upset about — or protesting — becomes secondary to an excuse to throw and outdoor festival at a borrowed country estate while Mac’s own motives are called into question. It’s both hilarious and sobering — and even though it was shot decades ago, couldn’t feel timelier. And it features a standout turn by Ali, who has also signed on as an executive producer, that foreshadows his spectacular career.

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Timing was one of the reasons the film had been shelved. The original script was penned by Klein and co-writers Brandon Krueger and Colin Trevorrow. Yes, that’s the same Trevorrow who went on to direct “Safety Not Guaranteed” and “Jurassic World” and serves not only as an EP on the film but plays one of the activists. Their original film was wildly different — not mockumentary-style and with entirely different plotlines — and titled “Making Revolution.”

Klein doesn’t mince words when talking about why that film never was released. “It was embarrassing,” he says. “We had no money no re-edit and it didn’t make any sense. It was a mess.” Also, times changed radically following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. “It instantly made the movie a period piece,” he notes. It was also a comedy that contained a scene where Ali’s character had a bomb strapped to his chest. “It felt out of touch and tone deaf and just inappropriate,” he says.

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Klein doesn’t dwell on the time and money he put into the project, saying, “What did I lose? I lost some years on a movie, but in the scheme of things there was so much more at stake.”

Echoes Ali, “It was like a pain you just learned to live with. I would talk about it from time to time and still feel very proud of the work in my mind. But I had let it go.”

Klein held screenings with the help of the Wisconsin Film Festival so that the people involved could see their work, then “promptly buried the movie altogether and moved on.” He worked on some other projects and became a professor at the prestigious DePaul University, where he is currently the co-chair of the master of fine arts in film and television directing. Meanwhile, Ali went on to his breakout roles in “House of Cards” and “Moonlight.” In 2019, when Ali was accepting his second Oscar for his role in “Green Book,” Klein sent him a message.

“I sent him a clip of him from the film, delivering one of his speeches,” Klein reveals. “It’s three minutes and 45 seconds of uninterrupted brilliance. He was fresh out of grad school, but already his performance was so nuanced and powerful.” Klein attached the video with a note essentially saying: “Look at this guy now.” Within a couple of days, Ali responded to Klein. “He basically said, ‘We’ve got to finish this film.’”

Klein spent the next four years going over the footage and developing an entirely new movie. He credits editors and producers David Linke and Kevin Linke, known as the Linke Brothers, for not only helping get the movie in shape, but reigniting his passion. Together they took over 130 of footage and made major changes — adopting the documentary structure, eliminating some characters entirely and essentially making a brand new film. Ali says coming on board as a producer was natural, “considering how invested I was in its original creation and being that it was something I was excited to be a part of and bring to an audience.”

Now, the timeliness of “Taste the Revolution” feels eerily prescient not only in a divisive election year but following events like Occupy Wall Street and the Fyre Festival. Where Klein once felt his movie was cursed, he now also sees it as blessed. “I don’t think the movie would have ever made sense all those years ago,” he says. “Somehow, the distance in time — not to mention Mahershala forging this legendary career — has only helped.”

And above all, Klein is thrilled to give both Ali and the public a chance to see his mesmerizing early performance. “One of the things I felt so bad about when the movie wasn’t released was that I had let him down,” Klein says. “He delivered this incredible performance and at the time, I didn’t know how to land the plane.”

As for early memories of that shoot, Klein laughs when he thinks about the first time he ever directed Ali in a scene. “He was brilliant from the start,” he says. “But he was so new, he actually yelled ‘cut’ on the first take!”

“Taste the Revolution” will screen Oct 19 at the New Orleans Film Festival. For tickets and information visit http://www.nofs.eventlive.org .

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