Tanna Frederick (Maggie Chase) and Noah Wyle (Aaron Lambert) create magic as young and old Hollywood collide in Queen of the Lot that was just released on DVD this week. Maggie is an up-and-coming actress from Iowa obsessed with celebrity, while Aaron is from an old movie family with all the right connections. To get a behind-the-scenes view from the Writer/Director Henry Jaglom, I interviewed this maverick filmmaker at a local café in Santa Monica. Henry shared, “I think Noah Wyle is wonderful with Tanna, and their chemistry is amazing.” Similar to Henry’s Hollywood career, which includes becoming friends with Natalie Wood (West Side Story) and Jack Nicholson (Easy Rider), this story is about love, fame and luck.

You’ll laugh out loud at Maggie’s addiction to get “Google points” (1 point for every Google listing of your name,) and her goal to catch up with Angelina Jolie. Henry explained the history behind this script, “I saw Tanna and her struggle to be an actress with acting classes, sleeping on couches, and waiting on tables. Queen of the Lot is the sequel of Hollywood Dreams, and follows the next step of her career.” What’s not as evident is that this character is based on Henry’s move from New York City to Hollywood to work as an actor under contract at Columbia Pictures, where he was in The Flying Nun and Gidget.

When Maggie falls for bad boy Christopher Rydell (Dov Lambert), he fits in with her obsession to be famous because he’s a well-known movie star from a prominent Hollywood family. Dov’s everything women can’t stand, yet often can’t resist. When Dov’s brother Noah Wyle (Aaron Lambert) comes to visit, the sparks between Maggie and Aaron are undeniable. Henry shared, “I think Noah Wyle is sensational, and together they have the comedy in the old movies that I watched as a child like “His Girl Friday” with Cary Grant and Roselind Russell. It has a charm, humor and romantic tension that seemed to disappear from movies.” You’ll be routing for Aaron, but I won’t tell you what happens in the end because you just have to watch the movie.

As Maggie struggles with being under house arrest for her second DUI, her insecurities come out, including her dream to be “Queen of the Lot.” While Dov escapes often to play card games with big stakes, it’s easy to fall in love with Aaron who is open to long walks and conversation with Maggie. This compassion for women is a consistent theme in Henry’s movies, and goes way back to his childhood. At the age of 8, he was invited to hang out with his mother’s friends in New York City playing cards every week. Henry observed, “They talked to me about their hearts, their sadness, their clothing, and what’s important. I compared it to my father whose job was about money and power, and the women were dealing with internal emotional things.”

Fast-forward to college and you can see how Henry created Noah Wyle’s character, Aaron. Henry explained that his college girlfriend said, “I feel like you’re a girlfriend and boyfriend all wrapped up in one – and I love that.” You will have the same response to Aaron in Queen of the Lot, which makes him irresistible.

What is even more magical than Queen of the Lot is Henry Jaglom’s Hollywood luck that led him to write this story. Among his many breaks, his top three include meeting Tuesday Weld, working on Easy Rider, and having Anais Nin save his first film. When Henry moved to LA, Tuesday Weld (Once Upon a Time in America with Robert DeNiro) took him around town and introduced him to many of Hollywood’s greats. When Natalie Wood picked him up at a party, it led to meeting Jack Nicholson, and his Hollywood story of luck and timing continued.

His friendship with Jack Nicholson led him to his first major film job as an “Editorial Consultant” for the hit Easy Rider. I laughed out loud when Henry shared that it all started because of a home movie that he shot in Israel that made everyone “think” he was a great editor. Bert Schneider, Executive Producer, hired Henry to work with Jack Nicholson to cut the film. Henry explained, “The movie was almost 5 hours long, and the suits at the studio didn’t like it, but everyone at the screenings loved it because they were stoned.” Instead of showing rides with three songs, they cut the movie to under 2 hours, which turned into a huge hit.

After working on Easy Rider, Henry’s first film, A Safe Place, ended up being a bomb in American Theaters because men could not stand a story about women sharing feelings. Despite having Jack Nicholson, Tuesday Weld and Orson Welles (Citizen Kane) in the cast, people booed at the New York Film Festival screening. When Anais Nin (Author, Nin’s Diary) discovered it, she took it to colleges to have women discuss it, which saved the film. Henry shared, “If it wasn’t for Anais, I would have been finished in Hollywood.”

Thank you Anais Nin for saving Henry Jaglom’s career early, and thank you to Henry for decades of films dedicated to women. Queen of the Lot is now being made into a book, and he is already planning a sequel with Tanna Frederick and Noah Wyle. If you haven’t seen Queen of the Lot, you can buy the DVD on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Breaking Glass Pictures (Distributor) or watch it on Neflix. You don’t want to miss this romantic comedy about love, fame and luck from one of Hollywood’s great directors.

© Liz H Kelly, National Digital Entertainment Reporter, http://sunriseroadmedia.com