The crew making “The Winter of Frozen Dreams” in upstate Schenectady was horrified when the father/manager of star lady Thora Birch insisted on watching the filming of her sex scenes with Dean Winters.
Even though it’s industry practice to shoot sex scenes on a closed set, Jack Birch - who met Thora’s mother, Carol Connors, as her co-star in “Deep Throat” - demanded to be present as his daughter and Winters simulated intercourse last week.
“It was so wrong,” said one insider. “The director is saying, ‘Harder! Faster!’ and the father is giving Winters the thumbs up.”
Thora dazzled critics in “Ghost World,” “American Beauty” and “Patriot Games” but was fired from the set of “Election” (1999) and hasn’t worked much in recent years.
Her dad, who “looks like Charles Manson” in a “full-length leather coat and wraparound sunglasses, even at night” - was described in a review of his “Road of Death” (1973) as “a muscle-stud . . . so unphotogenic you can’t take your eyes off him.”
“The Winter of Frozen Dreams” is the true-crime story of Barbara Hoffman, played by Birch, who worked at a massage parlor in Ann Arbor, Mich., run by a character played by Winters.
“He’s her pimp. She’d get these men to fall in love with her, take out big life insurance policies on them, and then poison them with cyanide,” explained our insider. “She killed two guys and is serving life in prison.”
Jack Birch was on the set every day giving orders - even telling director Eric Mandelbaum where to place his camera so that Thora would look her best.
Mandelbaum was about to shoot the first sex scene Monday when, “all of a sudden, the front door is being kicked in. Her father was threatening to kill the assistant directors. Then he threatens to pull her from the movie with three days of shooting left.”
Making matters worse, a problem with the focus on the camera necessitated 14 takes.
“It was the most bizarre, perverse scene,” said our witness. “One girl on the crew broke down crying.”
Calls to reps for Birch and Winters were not returned. Millie Milka, of Em & Me Productions, told Page Six: “Thora Birch is a very talented young actress.” Asked if her father had forced his way onto the set for the sex scenes, Milka replied, “We have no comment on that. We just want to focus on the movie.”
(via page six)
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