Steven Martini
Encyclopedia
Steven Martini is a writer, actor, composer, editor, and singer/songwriter who with his brother Derick Martini
Derick Martini
Derick Patrick Martini is an American screenwriter and film director.-Film and television:Martini's film writing credits include the coming of age comedy Lymelife...

 wrote the film Lymelife. Based on experiences from the Martini's childhood, Lymelife won the FIPRESCI
FIPRESCI
The International Federation of Film Critics is an association of national organizations of professional film critics and film journalists from around the world for "the promotion and development of film culture and for the safeguarding of professional interests." It was founded in June 1930 in...

 award at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival
2008 Toronto International Film Festival
The 2008 Toronto International Film Festival, was held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. This 33rd annual festival was from September 4 to September 13, 2008...

, and premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival
2009 Sundance Film Festival
The 2009 Sundance Film Festival ran from January 15, 2009 until January 25 in Park City, Utah. It was the 25th iteration of the Sundance Film Festival.-Award winners:*Grand Jury Prize: Documentary - We Live in Public...

. Martini is also known for being the singer/songwriter for the Los Angeles based band The Spaceship Martini.

Lymelife

The story of Lymelife is based on Steven and Derick's childhood in the New York suburbs of Long Island. After the incidents of the film, Steven moved from Long Island back into his birth place of New York City, where he attended the Professional Children's School
Professional Children's School
Professional Children's School is a not for profit, college preparatory school that was founded in New York City in 1914 to provide an education to young people working on the New York stage, in Vaudeville, or "on the road."-History:...

 with the Culkin brothers, who would go on to portray the Martini brothers on film. It was during this period that Steven met his first true love, Adrianna, whose father had Lyme disease
Lyme disease
Lyme disease, or Lyme borreliosis, is an emerging infectious disease caused by at least three species of bacteria belonging to the genus Borrelia. Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto is the main cause of Lyme disease in the United States, whereas Borrelia afzelii and Borrelia garinii cause most...

. This relationship is the basis of the love story between Rory Culkin
Rory Culkin
Rory Hugh Culkin is an American actor and is the younger brother of actors Macaulay Culkin and Kieran Culkin.-Personal life:...

 and Emma Roberts
Emma Roberts
Emma Rose Roberts is an American actress, model and singer. She is the daughter of actor Eric Roberts and niece of Julia Roberts. Roberts became known for her role as Addie Singer in the Nickelodeon television series Unfabulous. She released her debut album, which also served as the show's...

 in the film.

Writer

Steven's writing career began with Smiling Fish and Goat on Fire
Smiling Fish and Goat on Fire
Smiling Fish And Goat On Fire is a film about brothers, made by brothers Derick Martini and Steven Martini who wrote, produced and portrayed two brothers. It's reported that the film was shot on 35mm film but only cost fifty thousand dollars and was completed in twelve days, which is false. The...

, a film he and his brother financed for $50,000 and starred as the title roles, which won the Discovery Award at the 1999 Toronto International Film Festival
1999 Toronto International Film Festival
The 1999 Toronto International Film Festival ran from September 9 to September 18, 1999. The festival opened with Atom Egoyan's Felicia's Journey and closed with Onegin by Martha Fiennes...

. Smiling Fish was co-written and directed by Steven's friend and fellow Professional Children's School alumni, Kevin Jordan.

His second script, Lymelife, was accepted in the Sundance Institute
Sundance Institute
Sundance Institute is a non-profit organization founded by Robert Redford in 1981 that actively advances the work of filmmakers and storytellers worldwide...

's Film Program, where he and Derick shot, edited, and scored several scenes, which were reviewed by creative advisers such as Robert Redford
Robert Redford
Charles Robert Redford, Jr. , better known as Robert Redford, is an American actor, film director, producer, businessman, environmentalist, philanthropist, and founder of the Sundance Film Festival. He has received two Oscars: one in 1981 for directing Ordinary People, and one for Lifetime...

, Sigourney Weaver
Sigourney Weaver
Sigourney Weaver is an American actress. She is best known for her critically acclaimed role of Ellen Ripley in the four Alien films: Alien, Aliens, Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection, for which she has received worldwide recognition .Other notable roles include Dana...

, Wes Craven
Wes Craven
Wesley Earl "Wes" Craven is an American actor, film director, writer, producer, perhaps best known as the director of many horror films, particularly slasher films, including the famed A Nightmare on Elm Street and Wes Craven's New Nightmare, featuring the iconic Freddy Krueger character, the...

, Frank Oz
Frank Oz
Frank Oz is a British-born American film director, actor, voice actor and puppeteer who is known for creating and performing the characters Miss Piggy and Fozzie Bear in The Muppet Show, Cookie Monster, Bert and Grover in Sesame Street, and for directing films, including the 1986 Little Shop of...

, Scott Frank
Scott Frank
Scott Frank is an American screenwriter & director.- Filmography :*Plain Clothes *Dead Again *Little Man Tate *Malice *Get Shorty...

, and Chris McQuarrie. Some of this experience was recorded in "Sundance 20", a documentary film made by director Doug Pray
Doug Pray
Doug Pray is an American documentary film director, cinematographer, and editor who often explores unique subcultures in his films. His work includes Surfwise a portrait of the nomadic, 11-member Doc Paskowitz family ; Big Rig , a documentary about truck drivers; Infamy , a documentary about...

.

Steven has since written for television, film, and even a silent film.

Actor

Steven first appeared on film as Cadet Alex Stone in Major Payne
Major Payne
Major Payne is a 1995 comedy film, starring Damon Wayans. The film is a loose remake of the 1955 film The Private War of Major Benson, starring Charlton Heston....

. It was his goal to be a lead actor in a film so that he could fulfill his grandfather's dream of being on the big screen before he died. They watched the film together in theaters shortly before his grandfather's passing. Steven has also worked as an actor on stage, in television, and silent film.
He also starred in Robin Hood

Composer

Steven's musical roots are attributed to both of his grandfathers, Harold Martini, who was the leader of a the 1940s big band the Indiana Seranaders, and Pasquale Pecorarro, a natural showman who entertained the family at basement parties in Queens NY. It was Pasquale's piano that was given to his brother Derick in hopes the tradition would continue, but after the first lesson it was clear that Steven had inherited a more intuitive musical talent. It was also Pasquale's guitar which was left to Steven after his death in 1995, that Steven wrote his first song on. His father Frederick Martini owned and operated Zinno's Jazz club on 13th street in NYC while Steven was a teenager. Steven has been in various Los Angeles based bands, including 'Shag', 'Caboose', 'Dropastone', and 'Ric Veda'.

Steven attended the Sundance Institute's Composing labs while working on Lymelife. His mentors included Michael Kamen and Stewart Copeland.

Steven is currently the singer/songwriter of The Spaceship Martini
The Spaceship Martini
The Spaceship Martini is a Los Angeles based indie rock band most notably known for scoring the indie film Lymelife, starring Alec Baldwin, Timothy Hutton, Emma Roberts, Rory and Kieran Culkin...

. The Spaceship Martini has played the first Sunday of every month since 2006 in an ongoing residency at Canter's Deli, and a residency The Unknown Theater. Most recently The Spaceship Martini recorded the score of Lymelife and the end credits song Running Out of Empty.

Editor

Steven started editing Lymelife during the 22 day film shoot in New Jersey on Final Cut Pro - a program he learned during pre-production. The film's score evolved out of the editing process.

Brothers

After the release of Major Payne, Steven moved to Los Angeles to work in film and television. Derick soon followed suit and before long they started making Smiling Fish and Goat on Fire, in which they play the titular brother characters. The Martini brothers have gone on to portray Alex and Morris Karnofsky in Louis - a silent film they co-wrote - based on the historical brothers who helped Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana....

 get his first trumpet.

During the Sundance Labs, Kieran Culkin played the role of Scott, which is based on Steven, and was later played by his brother Rory Culkin
Rory Culkin
Rory Hugh Culkin is an American actor and is the younger brother of actors Macaulay Culkin and Kieran Culkin.-Personal life:...

. Steven played Jimmy, the role eventually played by Kieran, and based on older brother Derick. Alec Baldwin
Alec Baldwin
Alexander Rae "Alec" Baldwin III is an American actor who has appeared on film, stage, and television.Baldwin first gained recognition through television for his work in the soap opera Knots Landing in the role of Joshua Rush. He was a cast member for two seasons before his character was killed off...

 played their father. His brother William Baldwin
William Baldwin
William Joseph "Billy" Baldwin is an American actor, producer, and writer, known for his starring roles in such films as Flatliners , Backdraft , Sliver , Fair Game , Virus , Double Bang , as Johnny 13 in Danny Phantom , Art Heist , The Squid and the Whale , as himself...

 co-produced Lymelife.

External links

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