Damon Cardasis has a lot on his plate these days.
A musical adaptation of his 2017 film “Saturday Church” is in the midst of its off-Broadway run, while “Mr. Scorsese,” director Rebecca Miller’s Apple TV+ docuseries about Martin Scorsese he produced, will premiere later today at the New York Film Festival ahead of its streaming debut on Oct. 17.
“I’m writing the musical and doing lyrics for the musical, and then switching my brain and being the lead producer on a five-part doc series on Scorsese,” Cardasis tells me during a Zoom interview from his New York City apartment. “It’s crazy, but I think that’s what I love and what I thrive off of.”
And then he adds with a laugh, “It’s also careful what you wish for.”
“Saturday Church,” playing at the New York Theatre Workshop through Oct. 24, follows a New York City teen grappling with his gender and sexual identity when he is befriended by a group of LGBTQ+ youth. Directed by Whitney White, the show features a book by Cardasis and Pulitzer Prize-winner James Ijames (“Fat Ham”) and music and lyrics by Sia.
How do you even begin to produce a docuseries on Martin Scorsese?
It’s like, how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. It started as a single film. I produced “Arthur Miller: Writer,” Rebecca’s film about her father. It was nominated for an Emmy and we had all sorts of people reaching out with ideas. Rebecca was like, “Well, Marty would be incredible.” But we thought 1,000 people have probably asked him to do it. Then we found out, we were right. People were always asking him to do a documentary about his life, but he always said no. I was like, “Let’s just ask.” Rebecca got in touch with Margaret Bodde, who is his producing partner for his docs and runs his Film Foundation. She was like, “I think it’s a good idea. Why don’t you write him a letter explaining why?” Rebecca did, and he said yes.
What was it like shooting with him?
It started during the pandemic. He’s so busy and he does so many things, it was sort of advantageous in the fact that everything was shut down. It allowed us to sort of, in some ways, take advantage of that moment where he had a free slate because no movies were being shot. The interview started outside with a minimal crew. As we were getting deeper and deeper into it, Rebecca came to me at one point and said, “This is not one film.” At first we’re like, “Oh, maybe it’s two parts.” But then it grew into five parts. Thankfully, because of who he is, so many people wanted to be part of it. It wasn’t just famous people talking. We got his family. We got his childhood friends, we got his closest collaborators. So I think it’s really a three-dimensional portrait of him.
Was there ever a time when he asked to stop shooting because there was something he wouldn’t talk about?
No, never. Rebecca is also brilliant. I’m not just saying that because I’m her producing partner and friend, but it was her ability to keep up with his mind. He’s so intelligent. Rebecca would be like, “Let’s talk about Italian cinema from 1960” or “Oh, my god, did you see the opera of this or that?” She can go toe-to-toe with him because she’s so brilliant. We also found out as time went on that it was great to just have the two of them alone, just them in a room with two cameras set up and a boom. People will see in the doc that he’s very open. He’s very honest about things.
When did you decide to adapt “Saturday Church” into a stage musical?
My agent at CAA, Kevin Lin, was at one of the Q&As I did for the movie when someone asked if I wanted to do it as a staged musical, and he called me and said, “Would you consider it?” I was like, “Yeah, that’s the dream.” And then he asked who I’d want to do the music if I could choose anyone. I knew Sia had seen the movie because she tweeted about it. She said, “Everyone go see ‘Saturday Church.’ Well done, Damon Cardasis.” I told Kevin that Sia was my dream. He was like, “I’ll ask.” Two weeks later, he came back and said, “She’ll do it.” That was seven years ago.
Now, are you considering adapting the stage musical back into a movie?
I would love to make this into a big-budget movie musical. A dream of mine is to do a big movie musical like “Chicago.” I was talking to a big theater producer who’s known for her directness, and she said, “I have not seen an audience like that in a show since I don’t know when.” She said it was the most diverse. You get a 70-year-old white theater-goer, and then there’s young queer youth and a straight guy. She said, “This plays so well in a 200-seat theater, but it could play arenas, too.” We get videos of people dancing to the songs at nightclubs. I think as a big movie, it would be incredible.
When you were first writing “Saturday Church,” could you have imagined how much it would resonate in such a different way today because of the political attacks on the queer and trans communities?
It’s terrifying that we’re back at this stage. All this hatred. It’s endless. It’s horrifying. But I’m hoping this too shall pass. I hope that “Pose,” “Saturday Church” and all the work that’s been done will help have the community’s back and be a source of inspiration or be a source of love, and that the community doesn’t feel alone and that there is a true allyship.
This Q&A was edited for length and clarity.
