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July 20 - 26, 2016
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2016
17 EDITO RIAL & DESIGN AWARDS PRESS CLUB OF LI N Y P R E S S A S S O C I AT I O N CO
Vol. 30, No 35
A R D - WI N N I AW
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An Anton Media Group Publication
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Hicksville Twins Have (Almost) Identical Vision Gaudioso brothers have fashioned a career in indie filmmaking BY FRANK RIZZO
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Anthony Gaudioso put on 40 lbs., grew a beard for four months and made use of that old makeup standby, colloidal silver, for his role as Jack Lee in a film he wrote and co-directed with brother James, The Ghost and The Whale. (Right) Gaudioso before his transformation. (Photos courtesy of James Gaudioso) “I think wherever you’re from, you take the culmination of your experiences and try and apply them to your work,” Gaudioso reflected. While their peers displayed their thespian talents in the school musicals and plays, the Gaudioso brothers were trying to land small roles in the Big Apple’s television, stage and voiceover industries. “I remember they had a great [theater] program at Hicksville, but we never got the chance to be in the plays because we were always shuffling off to the city,” Gaudioso said. He noted that the stage “involves a different kind of acting, and we always had our eyes set on film and TV.” James found roles on Broadway and Off Broadway, including Shakespeare In The Park, and was used by noted director Spike Lee in a series of commercials. After graduating from Hicksville HS in 1997, James went off to Nassau Community College and
later transferred to Hofstra. Anthony attended LIU-Post. In the early 2000s, after graduating, the brothers headed to the West Coast and the center of the film industry. Both now make their home in West Los Angeles.
Making Movies Their first feature film, Medium, was shot in 2003-04 on Long Island for about $15,000. “A medium inadvertently opens the door to the Great Beyond and to those who have crossed its threshold” reads the plot summary on the Internet Movie Data Base (IMDB) website. Co-written by the brothers, along with Michael Baran (who co-directed with Anthony), it might have been inspired by their mother’s particular gift; Maryann, James related, “is well-known as a clairvoyant.”
see VISION on page 3
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Most mothers would have advised their children to pick a more sensible career. Maryann Gaudioso of Hicksville wasn’t like most mothers. As her identical twins, Anthony and James, were growing up, she encouraged their acting aspirations. “She told us, ‘Go for your dreams,’ ” James Gaudioso related as he sat for an interview in the Hicksville Public Library’s Children’s Department. At one point he looked around with a bemused smile, and a bit of wonder; it had been nearly 20 years since he last set foot into the room, and briefly talked about the subsequent changes. “[Maryann] was really supportive,” Gaudioso went on. “She would leave work [at Lufthansa Airines] and pick us up behind the Hicksville High School and say, ‘Come on, let’s beat the rush hour traffic,’ and take us to auditions in the city.” Gaudioso was in his hometown for a few days from West Los Angeles recently, staying with his mother and visiting friends and old haunts. The Gaudiosos moved to Hicksville from Illinois when the twins were young. The family also includes father John (now living in Arizona) and brother John-Peter (a police officer in Suffolk County). James recalled growing up in the area near Holy Trinity High School, close to the Westbury border. He found himself drawn to movies early on. The nearby drive-in theater in Westbury was a source of memories, and he named One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest as a particular favorite. “I saw a movie when I was a kid and thought it would be a beautiful thing to affect people through performance,” he said. Gaudioso gave credit to the Hicksville school system for fostering creativity. “There were some amazing teachers at Hicksville,” he said, also singling out counselor Alice Brod.