ALEX MONTY CANAWATI AND THE GOSTS BEHIND THE SCENES

Alex Monty Canawati
 

Alex M. Canawati was the director of Return to Baylon. A movie that was photographed with a hand-cranked camera and scored with music of the roaring twenties.  This silent film strings together the lives of the most famous and infamous stars of the 1920s, including Rudolph Valentino, Gloria Swanson, Clara Bow, Lupe Vélez, Fatty Arbuckle, and William Desmond Taylor.

Maria Conchita Alonzo

Return to Babylon was based off of a short film Mr. Canawati had made back in 2001, called “Birth of Babylon.”

Birth of Babylon is a short “one reeler” about the true life murder mystery and scandal of silent film director William Desmond Taylor.  The case is still unsolved. 

The film won the grand prize award at a Los Angeles film festival and a huge party was thrown to celebrate it. 

Canawati met actress Maria Conchita Alonso at this party. She urged him to do another silent film with her.  So that led to the “Lupe Velez” scandal, and eventually RETURN TO BABYLON was born, which showcases a number of other true life Hollywood silent tragedies and scandals.  

Canawati and his producer discovered 19 rolls of  film abandoned on the Hollywood Boulevad sidewalk one afternoon. Deciding it was a twist of fate, the pair began writing the movie that would utilize the old black and white film.

 

According to some of the cast, including Jennifer Tilly and Debi Mazar, it wasn’t long before strange things began happening on the set of this film. Actors reported feeling otherworldly, oppressive entities lurking about, and in some cases many of the crew claimed to have been reached out and grabbed by unseen hands more than a few times. This bizarre activity continued on for the duration of principal photography.

 

What the actors didn’t know was that Canawati and his editor had started to notice strange things in the editing room. Mysterious figured began appearing in the negatives; sometimes they were just bizarre shadows, but other times they were much less ambiguous.

  Alex M. Canawati: The film has a phenomenal cast.

Debi Mazar with Madonna

"Debi Mazar, has been in so many great films and always stands out.  She was cast in Bullet’s Over Broadway as Chaz Palmentari’s girlfriend. "

Tilly in the "Wife of Chucky"

"Jennifer Tilly has been in so many great films; perhaps my favorite performance of hers was in Woody Allen’s “Bullets Over Broadway” where she played an outlandishly shrill gangster’s mol cum actress."

 

Laura Harring, completely enthralled me with her role in David Lynch’s “Mulholland Drive.”

Ione with John Cusak

Ione Skye played a preacher’s wife on the brilliant television show Arrested Development.

Tippi Hedren, I won’t even dare try to make reference to her career, everyone has seen “Marnie” and “The Birds”, every one who cares for cinema knows how amazing she is… just legendary, that word has almost disappeared completely from the vernacular of modern day cinema, but in this film it is not only celebrated, but utilized.

Rolonda and Sandra Bullock

Rolonda Watts stands out in my film that was a fantastic introduction to her. Today she is a successful TV show host.

 

MARIA CONCHITA ALONSO IN RETURN TO BABYLON