Jonah Feingold wants to take you on a perfect date
In his debut feature-length film, Dating & New York, writer and director Jonah Feingold depicts the New York City dating scene as a fantastical hellscape. The film follows the “situationship” between its two leads, Wendy and Milo, and all of the trivial parts of dating in modern-day Manhattan. The movie parodies dating culture in the digital age with its dating app “Meet Cute”, complete with men lying about how tall they are. As the nuances of being “friends with benefits” start to weigh on Wendy and Milo, they realize maybe there is something more between them.
The movie exaggerates some of the classic tropes seen in rom coms through the ages like charming scenes filmed in a diner and fairytale-like storytelling. Something else the film reflects from romantic comedies is fashion. While watching Dating & New York, you might notice a lot of turtlenecks, this isn’t a coincidence. Jonah cites his all-time favorite rom com fit, the white turtleneck and jeans worn by Billy Crystal as Harry Burns in When Harry Met Sally, as his inspiration. Styling the characters in the movie was a collaboration between Feingold, the movie’s stylist Hope Fourie, and the production designer Michelle Li. The three of them worked on a tight budget to bring the personality of the characters through using clothing, and wanted to be sure that every outfit had a purpose.
Another clothing item that had its standout moment is a pair of overalls. While the two main characters enjoy a meal at a diner, the female character, Wendy is wearing denim overalls. Jonah had a very personal reason for this outfit decision, “There was a section of time where my Hinge profile said, ‘just looking for a girl wearing overalls on the subway’”, and so he wrote overalls into the script for his character. In this same scene, Wendy was wearing a ribbon in her hair, a tribute to the character from Peter Pan of the same name. All of this being a clever nod to her love of fuckboys, the real-life lost boys of modern dating.
Being that the movie was made independently and on a tight budget, sometimes the actors used their own clothes to help bring their characters to life. When a last-minute casting issue lead Feingold to play a character in the movie, he dug into his own closet to outfit the scene. Feingold plays a character named Mort who serves as being an example of a bad date. Mort is wearing an incredible penguin intarsia knit sweater from the writer/director’s personal wardrobe and all while being told there will not be a second date!
While that is the only one of Jonah’s own outfits that made into the movie, we discuss what he likes wearing on set behind the camera. He explained that there are a few things to consider like comfort since you have to wear it all day, style because you’re going to have some behind-the-scenes pictures being taken, and approachability, so that people want to come up to you to give their ideas and opinions. He mentions having pockets is important, so that you can hold all the things you may need on set. His ideal outfit is cool pants, a t-shirt with cuffed sleeves, and sneakers. The Instagram @directorfits is something Jonah references in our conversation and points out the constant posting of 1990s directors wearing Hawaiian shirts. Jonah wonders if this plays into the idea that a director should be approachable on set. He is still searching for his director fit staple, the way Wes Anderson has his Clarke’s Wallabees and Spielberg has a big 90s baseball hat and sunglasses. Ultimately, Feingold defaults to dressing along with the cast, opting to dress as if he’s in the scene.
Jonah has a small collection of vintage Disney-related merchandise that he cherishes dearly, especially if it involves the cast or crew. When asked what his favorite item of clothing is he told me about the vintage baseball cap from the 1995 New York premiere of Pocahontas. It took place in Central Park and the merchandise was made in collaboration with the Parks Department with Disney. Another item he has an emotional connection to is a 1997 Hercules cast and crew sweater from his producer who promised him if he sold the movie he could have it. It is important to note that Jonah is NOT a Disney adult. He currently is seeking out a 1980s USC film school hat to add to his collection of movie merchandise.
Aside from being a writer and director, Jonah has accidentally earned himself the title of Dating Guru. While in the process of making Dating & New York he had a podcast sponsored by dating app Hinge where he discussed dating with his co-host who he had gone on a date with before. For a first date, he likes to wear a t-shirt with a cuff sleeve (maybe this is his staple) tucked into his pants, and some boots, something comfortable and loose. For a second or third date with someone he really likes he’ll opt for a nice sweater because those are his personal favorite. When asked about his preferred breakup outfit, he said he’s never been able to plan one.
When talking about his style icons he mentions the ones from the movies. From romantic comedies specifically, he mentioned of course Harry Burns in When Harry Met Sally, he also noted that Hugh Grant just looks good and cool in anything. As far as his real-life inspirations, he’s influenced by Fran Leibowitz, his dad’s closet, and men’s fashion podcast Throwing Fits. With all three of these being New York staples (his dad grew up in this city on this same block Jonah lived on with his family), Jonah told me about how Manhattan has influenced not only his personal style but the look of his movies as well. He waxed poetic to me about how witnessing everything going on around the city feels like watching movies in themselves, wondering out loud how someone could come here and not be inspired, “You can point the camera anywhere you want and the personality speaks through. There’s a reason that some of the greatest movies in the world take place here”. He hopes to one day become synonymous with New York City as a filmmaker, the way Spike Lee and Martin Scorcese are.
Jonah is currently working on new movies for the future. He is always watching romantic comedies for inspiration with his current favorites being Music and Lyrics and Notting Hill. You can find Dating & New York for rent now on iTunes or Amazon Prime.
