American Ecstasy preview by Jonathan Leder

Purple TV presents an exclusive sneak preview of the unreleased and unfinished feature film American Ecstasy by photographer and filmmaker Jonathan Leder. An anthology film exploring tales of resilient women gasping in the hands of a mad everyman. This everyman though is loosly based on the real life doings of James Mitchell DeBardeleben, a serial sexual sadist. DeBardeleben was first caught for passing counterfeit bills which led to discovery of tape recordings of intense torture sessions, often scripted, with women. Police described their findings as “the best documented sexual sadist since the Marquis de Sade.” The film pulls from different classic films such as Repulsion, Straw Dogs, L’Avventura, Fellini’s 8 1/2, and Persona, to name a few. This erotic nightmare psychological thriller American Ecstasy, starring the November 2012 Playboy Playmate Britany Nola, Amy Hood, Lindsay Roan, among other rising female actors, is yet to be completed as Leder states, “At the moment we have about 40 hours of footage ‘in the can’ but still we are very much in production. The film has been evolving over the past couple years and maturing like a wine. I think I will let that process continue a bit longer until we really have all the footage we need to be able to cut it together. I hate to rush, and since I really hope to create something interesting for people, I enjoy the process of taking the time. The goal is for the final film to achieve the balance of art, entertainment, and to take people just a little out of their comfort zone, all at the same time.”

Directed by Jonathan Leder

Starring Britany Nola, Robert Kirkland, Christian DeBoer, Amy Hood, and Lindsay Roan

Casting by Louise Roberts

Screenplay by Noah Wunsch

Produced by Jonathan Leder and Hunter Stephenson

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