- Photographer Tony Moussoulides is determined to make a biopic on his illustrious career in Swinging Sixties London. Now 85 and home in Cyprus, he re-enacts - and directs - scenes from his life featuring, among others, John Huston and Andy Warhol.
- "Everything I say [in the making of this documentary] is part of the script," Tony Moussoulides demands of the directors, Argyro and Margaux, at the start of "I, Tony". Once a top photographer in the fashion and entertainment industries in Europe, Tony worked for Vogue, Marie Claire, Elle, and Glamour. He brushed elbows with the rich and famous, and counted Oscar-winners Peter Sellers and Christopher Lee among his friends and collaborators. In 1972, Andy Warhol flew Tony to New York City to have his portrait taken at The Factory, Warhol's New York City legendary studio.
Today, 86-year-old Tony lives in a cramped apartment on the island of Cyprus, where he spent his childhood. He has faded from the limelight and there is almost no trace of him or his work on the internet. This fact is a source of serious frustration and discontent for Tony. But he has one final project in mind: making a full-blown, Hollywood-style film about his life that will cement his legacy. Tony insists that divine intervention led him to Argyro, a Cypriot filmmaker based in New York. In Spring 2018, Tony contacted Argyro repeatedly (on LinkedIn, e-mail, phone), and later her collaborator Margaux, to create a film about his life only to realize that they have their own ideas about how such a film should look, sound, and feel--ideas that often diverge from his.
"I, Tony" moves between Tony's telling of the stories, his vision for a film about his life, and studio reenactments of his memories as scenes from a screenplay. Over the course of the documentary, it becomes clear that Tony's drive, obsessiveness, and perfectionism served him well as a top commercial photographer. Yet he fell far short of becoming a famous filmmaker. "I, Tony" may very well be his last opportunity to realize this dream.
Even though he believes in Argyro's vision and talents, he cannot stop himself from hijacking the film and demanding to be in control and at the center of attention at all times. Tensions mount as Argyro and Tony each assert their own directorial approach for the film. Tony wants a Hollywood-style biopic that glorifies his achievements whereas Argyro envisions a more meditative, vulnerable portrait. Whose direction will prevail--Argyro, or Tony's?
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