As Larry David’s ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ comes to an end, filmmaker Matthew Bauer releases bizarre docufiction film

A lonely expatriate in Singapore attends a party disguised as Larry David, the creator of Seinfeld.

LONDON, UK, April 5, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ — In ‘Curb Your Expatriatism’, Allan Nicholls (BAFTA & WGA Nominee for Robert Altman’s ‘A Wedding’, ‘Nashville’, ‘Popeye’, ‘Slap Shot’, ‘Hair’ original Broadway cast) has been living in Singapore for four months and misses his life back in America. Allan is often told he looks like Larry David, star of the HBO series ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ and creator of ‘Seinfeld’. When he receives an invitation to the Singapore Television Awards, Nicholls decides to attend in disguise as David in an attempt to make new connections in this foreign city.

The experimental docufiction film was shot secretly using hidden cameras by director Matthew Bauer (real men named James Bond doc ‘The Other Fellow’ 2022)

The film follows Nicholls’ journey through the streets of Singapore and as he prepares his disguise before nervously attending the awards ceremony as his alter-ego. Will his plan work? Will he be recognized? And has anyone in Singapore even heard of Larry David, ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ or ‘Seinfeld?’

In advance of this Sunday night’s series finale of ‘Enthusiasm’ – ‘Expatriatism’ is now available on distributor Viddsee’s website and YouTube channel.

Throughout the past two decades, people have told Nicholls continually how much he looks like David. (Nicholls also says people have told him he looks like Sen. Bernie Sanders. David himself said on ‘Curb’ that people say he looks like Sanders.) “I’m a huge fan of both ‘Curb’ and ‘Seinfeld’ and wondered if there was some sort of film in this,” his friend Bauer said. Bauer and Nicholls had met when Matt attended his class at NYU Film School.

Then Nicholls received an invitation to the Singapore Television Awards. Inspired by Sacha Baron Cohen’s approach in the “Borat” films, Bauer asked Nicholls, “What would happen if you were to attend as Larry David?” Then they considered Nicholls’ status at the time as a lonely expatriate in Singapore. In real life, he was desperately missing his wife and son across the Pacific Ocean, and from here the concept for the film was born.

Bauer and Nicholls didn’t expect that no one on awards ceremony night would know who David is.

“At first this was disappointing, but actually ended up working best for the narrative of the whole film,” Bauer said. “Of course, the joke should be, ‘This guy puts so much effort into being Larry but nobody knows who he is pretending to be.’ It meant his plan had failed.”

When Bauer approached Nicholls about the film, Nicholls originally “resisted,” he said. “I was not convinced or certain if I should be claiming to be someone I am not,” Nicholls said. “Then Matt explained his idea of how the story would be told and it suddenly felt more like a form of compliment and I agreed.”

Bauer wanted to take “an almost dark, serious take on this – going for something less comedy, more sad,” he said. “I wanted to tell the story of how and why this man acquired this new identity. And I like films with a ‘twist,’ so I wanted to tease the audience in the first half as to exactly what was going on.”

Because filmmaking is extremely limited in Singapore, Bauer had more issues filming the production’s early parts in a shopping mall because he was often told there to stop. The ceremony was easier since a lot of media and cameras were around already, Bauer said.

“The reality is that it took me time to accept what I was doing as an actor in a film. At first, I wasn’t thinking like an actor,” Nicholls said. “But when I finally settled in and saw the cameras covering me from a distance in a truly ‘cinema verite’ style, I understood that I was in charge of my own reality – it was all fine.”

Added Bauer: “It took Allan a while to get what I was trying to do here, but Allan has worked with everyone from Altman to Saturday Night Live and he came around to the meta-ness of the concept eventually. And he was very brave being thrust into such an odd scenario.”

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A press kit is available upon request. And Bauer and Nicholls are available to be interviewed.

Matthew Bauer
Matthew Bauer Films
+44 7721 041007
[email protected]

Curb Your Expatriatism | Presented by Viddsee