Dancing
At The Blue Iguana
“Laying
bare the lives behind exotic
dancers at an LA pole-dancing club,
Dancing At The Blue Iguana highlights
the uncertainties facing the girls, for
whom there seems to be no other way
to exist...”
IN THE HEART OF THE SAN FERNANDO VALLEY in Los Angeles is The Blue Iguana;
a place where glamour and decay meet, paths cross, roles are played out and
violence is never far away.
Sensitively and sympathetically portraying a group of exotic dancers perfecting
their art as they entertain audiences at a lap-dancing club in Los Angeles,
Dancing At The Blue Iguana goes backstage to expose the complications, dramas
and traumatic love lives of the girls who shed their clothes along with their
inhibitions.
Jessie (Charlotte Ayanna) has told her beloved uncle she is in Hollywood, careful
to give him no further details before going to her audition at the club, where
she simply sizzles.
The vulnerable and ditsy Angel (Daryl Hannah), originally from Oklahoma, fantasises
that Adam West is her father and longs to become a foster mother. Believing
boyfriend and would-be musician Charlie (Rodney Rowland) will marry her, she
is shattered to find he has been unfaithful with Jessie.
However, Charlie can get violent when things go wrong and Jessie is on the receiving
end of his anger when he fails to get a recording contract. Angel herself has
a secret that could jeopardise her ambitions and Jo (Jennifer Tilly) has discovered
she is pregnant. When her former boyfriend Sully (Elias Koteas) arrives in LA
driving his unmistakeable 1974 Fleeetwood, Jo will have to make a decision that
will affect her future.
With a love of poetry, Jasmine (Sandra Oh) has moved to LA to escape a bad relationship
in Seattle. She meets fellow poet Dennis (Chris Hogan), but can she sustain
a relationship with him once he has seen her dance semi-nude at The Blue Iguana?
Stormy (Sheila Kelley) also harbours secrets; and will the newly-arrived, well-known
porn star Nico (Kristin Bauer) fit in at the club?
Dancing At The Blue Iguana follows the dancers as they experience the
jealousies, desperations, hopes and dreams that colour their lives. Even boss
Eddie Hazell (Robert Wisdom) possesses a portrait of himself by a former girlfriend
as a memory of his past.
Eddie looks after his girls but demands punctuality, loyalty and absolute honesty
from them. Despite the rules of no sex and no drugs, not all the dancers adhere
to them. If there is trouble, barman Bobby (W Earl Brown) has a shoulder for
the girls to cry on.
Eddie also keeps a watchful eye on one of his best customers, the elderly Harry
Goldberg (Harper Roisman). Harry is a great character and he enjoys watching
the girls through a pair of opera glasses that he says are his only memento
of his late wife.
But not all is well in the Valley. Just across the road, a mysterious stranger
watches from his hotel room. Sacha (Vladimir Mashkov) is a hit man who has come
to Los Angeles to eliminate a Russian businessman being held by the FBI for
questioning. And he has become enchanted by Angel…
Dancing At The Blue Iguana also features: Carolyne Aycaguer as Sophie
and Jessie Bradford as Jorge. The superb music includes Leonard Cohen's Dance
Me To The End Of Love and Angel by Marianne Faithful and Dave Stewart.
Costume Designer is Louise Frogley; Music is by Tal Bergman and Renato Neto;
Director of Photography is Ericson Core; Screenplay is by Michael Radford and
David Linter; Produced by Michael Radford, Sheila Kelley, Damian Jones, Graham
Broadbent, Etchie Stroh, Ram Bergman and Dana Lustig; and Directed by Michael
Radford (Oscar-winning director of Il Postino and the controversial and
sexually-charged drama White Mischief).
• Michael Radford lays bare the world of exotic
dancers in the gritty, unglamorous, semi-improvised film exploring the complex
intersecting lives of six exotic dancers who work at an LA strip club Dancing
At The Blue Iguana, a Network Releasing title available to own on 27 June
2011. Certificate: 18 | Catalogue Number: 7953482 | RRP: £12.99.
"Sensitively and sympathetically portraying a group of exotic dancers perfecting
their art as they entertain audiences at a lap-dancing club in Los Angeles,
Dancing At The Blue Iguana goes backstage to expose the complications,
dramas and traumatic love lives of the girls who shed their clothes along with
their inhibitions" — Maggie Woods, MotorBar
"Glamorous and sexy" — FilmFour
