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Dan Nastro was destined to become a filmmaker. Born and raised in Staten Island, New York City and being the son of a musician and an actress he was always exposed to the arts. His father made sure from an early age that he appreciated both contemporary and classic films. As well as being an actress his mother is also a very successful entrepreneur. Dan credits his parents for teaching him the importance of both the arts and business.
While he showed an interest in movies all his life, he started to take formal classes in filmmaking at The New York Film Academy after his first year of high school. Once he completed the first program his fiery passion could not be curbed. He started to develop a wide variety of screenplays and spent his entire savings on a wide array of high-quality film equipment to produce films outside of a film school setting.
In his second year at NYFA in 2005 he decided to study at their Los Angeles, CA branch. It is there that he made what he calls his "first real film", Domestic Intervention, the story of an abused teenager and her friends decision on what to do about it. Many professional filmmakers who have seen the film liked that Dan was daring and unafraid with the camera and that he was able to handle such a serious topic at such a young age. The film went to various film festivals and helped establish Nastro as a serious up and coming talent.
One filmmaker who was especially impressed by Domestic Intervention was Gary Gerani, an accomplished screenwriter who wrote the cult classic horror film, Pumpkinhead. After he returned to the east coast after NYFA LA, Dan discovered the world of "fan films", films inspired by a movie, television program, or comic book created by fans rather than by the source's copyright holders or creators. Thanks to the internet and pre-established fan bases, this has been a good way for budding filmmakers gain popularity and wide spread recognition. Being a life-long Superman fan, Dan thought if the visual effects could be convincingly done he would direct a Superman fan film. However, at that time Superman Returns was in the middle of production and Dan knew that his little film could obviously not compete with a big production. He decided to vary his idea up by making a fan film about Superman's cousin, Supergirl. To write the film Dan asked Gary Gerani to pen a script, but Gerani had much bigger ideas in mind for the fan film. He proposed that they treat the actual film like a TV pilot and to write up a bible for a continuing TV series.
The ambitious project was filmed over a little bit less than a year and in the end, Confessions of a Teenage Supergirl was released to the internet world of eager comic book fanboys on July 11th 2006. Being the first Supergirl fan film, the fans were bound to be a little bit skeptical but most of them were pleasantly surprised and some even prefer the film to the lackluster 1984 version of Supergirl released by Warner Brothers. In terms of the TV pilot proposal, Nastro and Gerani put together a DVD with the film along with the bible/episode guide (Gerani dubbed the DVD "one stop shopping for a TV series"). This innovative idea actually made it's way to the Warner Bros. offices, something that they hoped for but never really expected. While WB decided not to go with their concept, the 7th season of Smallville will introduce a Supergirl character and some people associated with COATS believe that this little fan film at least planted the seed for the Smallville idea over at Warner Brothers.
After the Supergirl film, Dan took jobs in New York as various crew positions on some major studio films and has worked with movie stars like Vanessa Williams and Will Smith. While in search of his next directing project Dan was introduced to actor/writer Bailey Varness. Bailey had been working on a script that she showed to Dan, he was very excited by the story and was interested in directing it. The film, ...if it does not last, began shooting in New York City in November of 2006 and is currently in sound mixing right now. While the film was being scored, Dan wrote his first film since Domestic Intervention. At the suggestion of Gary Gerani, who has since become his mentor, he penned Dan Nastro's Dracula. Unlike Supergirl the Dracula character is public domain and has no copyright holder, making the film eligible for film festivals. The film was shot and edited in less than a month and after both films are completed Dan plans to submit them to film festivals worldwide.
In 2007 Dan also produced and is in the process of editing a documentary about Martin Scorsese's three-time Oscar® winning editor, Thelma Schoonmaker. The film will feature Dan interviewing Ms. Schoonmaker about her astonishing film career and how it is working with the legendary film director, Martin Scorsese.
After all that he has done it is very hard to believe that Dan only turned 18 in September of 2007. He has since moved to L.A. to help further his young career. Right now he is the process of putting the final touches on ...if it does not last and Dan Nastro's Dracula and getting settled in his new city. However, knowing how passionate and determined this young person is it will not be long before Dan is back on the set directing another film.
