RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM Punahou School graduate Chris Palzis, 36, director of "Bad Trip," is learning what it takes to build a career in the movies. "Bad Trip," completed in 1999, didn't get noticed until a music video "prequel" was filmed in Hawaii. It is now out on DVD from Lions Gate films.

Surviving
Hollywood

Punahou grad Palzis rides a wave
of hard work and "blissful naivete"

Storytelling is what Chris Palzis believes he does best, and he is slowly making a career out of it. The route to success continues to be strenuous and a bit circuitous for the 36-year-old Punahou School and University of Southern California graduate.

"My high school friends gave me the confidence and inspiration to pursue this," Palzis said during a recent visit home from Los Angeles. "I remember them saying that I never come more alive than when I tell a story."

'Bad Trip' On DVD: Rated R, released by Lions Gate Films The story: Two friends, John (Ethan Suplee) and Sam (Kevin Connelly), embark on a road trip from Washington, D.C., in pursuit of a crazy Mardi Gras experience, but run from one mishap to another -- beginning with running over Tyrone (Coolio), an escaped convict.

It has taken several years, but Palzis' first film, "Bad Trip," was released briefly in May, and is now out on DVD from Lions Gate Films. The film stars the rapper Coolio, Ethan Suplee ("Blow" and "The Butterfly Effect") and Kevin Connelly (HBO's "Entourage" and WB's "Unhappily Ever After").

After graduating from USC in 1990, Palzis, half-brother of Kelly Preston, who's currently starring in "Sky High," and may be best known as the wife of actor John Travolta, took any film job, sometimes without pay. That allowed him to work with some of the most prominent directors in filmmaking, including Jim Brooks, Costa Gravas, Cameron Crow and Mike Nichols. He watched and learned.

One of Palzis' first film jobs was as an unpaid production assistant on a Robert DeNiro picture. "It was 90-plus hours, six days a week. My boss was a nightmare, but I learned how to suck it up."

The difference between classroom theory and on-the-job training in the real Hollywood was a rude awakening.

"The pressure is incredible," he said. "There can be 30 to 100 people taking orders from you, and there's no one to blame but yourself if something goes wrong. And PA's get blamed for everything anyway. I still have a hard time watching that film because I can see my mistakes."

After a few more films, Palzis realized he'd never make a name for himself working for other people. He had to have "my own reel," which meant directing his own film.

"I had plenty of agents hip-pocketing me," he said. He wasn't an official client, but would have an agent's support for particular projects. "It's a joke really. ... It doesn't mean you got work ... all you've done is get a headhunter."

By the early 1990s Palzis needed a rest, so he returned to Hawaii, where he wrote five screenplays.

His desire to make films didn't rest just with him, but four other surfer friends from USC. After they graduated and went their separate ways, Palzis came up with the script for "Bad Trip." He asked his friends for help turning it into a movie wile they were together on a surf trip to Costa Rica.

"They were definitely skeptical, but I reminded them that in college we had said someday we would make a film," Palzis said.

First on board was Sean Nevett, a former National Scholastic Surfing Association amateur champion who had made his money in initial public stock offerings. He became "Bad Trip's" executive producer, responsible for generating funding. Mark Doumani agreed to help produce the film. Jim McInerny would help financially and got a starring role -- his acting debut.

They then turned to surf buddy Erik Fleming, the only one who had worked on several films. He would co-direct "Bad Trip."

The $500,000-plus film was shot in 17 days, mostly in remote areas of Arizona and California. They had to borrow money to complete the film after some promised funding didn't materialize. Sister Preston also invested.

"We had already finished the first half, so we had to borrow from loan sharks to complete it," Palzis said. "That's not pretty, because every week you don't pay back the principal, the interest is compounded."

Those loans have been paid off.

The film was completed in 1999, but went unnoticed for several years until a music video "prequel" was filmed in Hawaii -- "I Don't Wanna Die," performed by Coolio and Krayzie Bone.

"The music video prequel is something that's never been done before," Palzis said.

"The music video ends literally where the movie begins," Doumani said, "and I think this is what Lions Gate found unique about our marketing approach and why the movie's out there."

"Bad Trip" is just one step toward Palzis' goal of directing bigger budget pictures. "I knew no one was going to hand me a directing gig unless I had written and produced a movie, so I had to separate myself from the rest."

He admits some frustration in his quest, but has no plans to retreat to Hawaii -- yet. "I like to go where the odds are in my favor, and my best chances are in Hollywood," he said. "You gotta play the numbers."

Palzis switches mindset, mentioning Chris Lee, with whom he worked on the Sony film "Jerry McGuire." Lee, a top Hollywood executive, moved back to Hawaii to create the University of Hawaii's film school, and now is executive producer of Warner Bros.' "Superman Returns" in Australia.

"I admired that he could do the big Hollywood thing, then walk away," Palzis said. "I want to get big enough so I can move back here, then return to L.A. for projects."

Palzis has finished his next script, a comedy about a girl whose one-night stand with a movie star comes back to haunt her.

"You know," Palzis says, laughing, "I'm a very optimistic person. Naivete is always a state of bliss."