SCRANTON -- The trouble with getting a copy of the much-talked about movie “The Trouble with Cali" ended Tuesday morning.
A half-million dollars of county tax money was used to make the Paul Sorvino film and residents have yet to see the movie or a dime of money, but county commissioners said they received copies of the film on Tuesday. To our knowledge, a short YouTube video is the most anyone in Lackawanna County has seen of the film.
The now-infamous movie, made by Hollywood star Paul Sorvino, was shot partially in Scranton with the help of $500,000 of Lackawanna County taxpayer money. The movie was never shown here and the county has not seen a dime, leaving residents to feel stiffed.
“I thought it should be shown since we paid for it. $500,000 and we haven`t seen a trailer yet,” said Neil Robbins of Scranton.
But that could change.
The Lackawanna County Commissioners say three DVD copies of “The Trouble with Cali” were sent by Sorvino to their office. Now they`re working on getting the movie shown here in the county.
“Right now we are reaching out to Mr. Sorvino and his attorneys to work out the legal arrangements of being able to provide a free public showing of this movie to the taxpayers of Lackawanna County,” said Commissioner Jim Wansacz.
“We spent the money on it, we should have it, why not?” said Laura Yadlosky from Carbondale. “Absolutely, I`d go see it.”
At PNC Field, the home of the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, some county residents say they are owed more than a free movie, they`re owed half a million dollars.
“I didn`t even know they made the movie, really. We gave them the money. He left town, but I never even knew he made it. [He] sold us a bill of goods, but as long as you got the movie, let them enjoy it,” said Marty Padden of Olyphant.
The county commissioners are also asking Sorvino to provide accounting records of exactly how that $500,000 was spent on the film.
“I know people have been asking for a breakdown of how much money went for acting, went for accounting, went for different things. I think that`s more important than seeing the movie,” said Carl Salitis from Throop.