{"id":80791,"date":"2025-12-25T11:40:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-25T11:40:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/80791\/"},"modified":"2025-12-25T11:40:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-25T11:40:11","slug":"he-asked-his-dad-if-he-could-make-a-movie-with-his-friends-the-9-year-olds-film-think-twice-became-a-staten-island-sensation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/80791\/","title":{"rendered":"He asked his dad if he could make a movie with his friends. The 9-year-old\u2019s film, \u2018Think Twice,\u2019 became a Staten Island sensation"},"content":{"rendered":"

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — On a cold Staten Island morning, inside a garden that looked like another planet, a group of third-graders raised lightsabers, performed their lines and made an epic movie.<\/p>\n

At the center of it all was 9-year-old Clyde Turner \u2014 quiet, curious, bursting with ideas \u2014 and his dad, Jack Turner, a professional producer based in St. George who decided that when his son said, \u201cDad, I want to make a movie with my friends,\u201d the only acceptable response was yes.<\/p>\n

That movie became \u201cThink Twice<\/a>\u201a\u201d an eight-minute, Star Wars-inspired sci-fi spoof dreamed up by Clyde and brought to life by a tight-knit group of Staten Island dads, their kids and a community that leaned all the way in. Most of the young cast members were Clyde\u2019s third-grade classmates at PS 9 in Concord at the time of filming, with a few younger siblings also appearing in the film.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a kidnapped princess, a villain named Darth Vinnie, thunderbolts and lightsabers, winking Baby Yodas, bonked heads and so much more. But beneath the space battles is a true, heartwarming story about what happens when adults take children\u2019s creativity seriously.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love movies,\u201d Clyde told the Advance\/SILive.com<\/a>. \u201cAnd since my dad is a producer, I thought it could be possible, and I\u2019m just very interested in movies. That gave me an idea that I could make a movie.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ClydeClyde Turner walking the red carpet at the \u201cThink Twice\u201d film premiere at Salem Church on Friday, November 21, 2025.Courtesy of Sean Sweeney<\/p>\n

Jack, whose recent credits include the popular 2025 Netflix film \u201cNonnas<\/a>,\u201d about Enoteca Maria restaurant in St. George, remembers the moment clearly. <\/p>\n

\u201cAbout a year and a half ago, he said, \u2018Dad, I wanna make a movie with my friends.\u2019 And, in general, I\u2019ve been trying to take this perspective as a parent where when the kids have some sort of idea to just lean into it and say, \u2018OK, let\u2019s do it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

One Saturday afternoon in the summer of 2024, father and son sat down at a laptop. Clyde, then 8 years old, talked; Jack typed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said, all right, you tell me how you want the movie to look, feel, what you want people to say, what the story is, and I\u2019ll just basically put it into script format,\u201d Jack said. \u201cAnd in a day, we had written \u2018Think Twice.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\"JackJack Turner giving an opening speech at the \u201cThink Twice\u201d film premiere at Salem Church on Friday, November 21, 2025.Courtesy of Sean Sweeney<\/p>\n

The Star Wars DNA was entirely Clyde\u2019s as well, and he knew exactly who he wanted in the movie. There were no auditions, just phone calls to parents, all of whom said yes.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was just so great,\u201d Jack said. \u201cAll of them were like, \u2018Absolutely, we\u2019re in. Let\u2019s do this.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

What followed was something far bigger than a backyard project. The group shot exteriors at Snug Harbor\u2019s Chinese Scholar\u2019s Garden in Livingston and interiors at Community Media of Staten Island in Mariners Harbor. Professional cinematographers volunteered their time. <\/p>\n

Post-production was largely shepherded by Steven Heo of Dongan Hills, a parent on the project who took on the role of editor. Heo worked closely with Jack to shape the film, overseeing edits, pacing and visual effects that helped translate Clyde\u2019s imagination to the screen. Audio was recorded and looped in a real studio at McKee High School in St. George. Kids learned their lines, parents wrangled schedules and nights and weekends disappeared. <\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody came together at every moment, and it just made it so, so much fun,\u201d Jack said.<\/p>\n

\"Jack(From left) Theo Dorian, Sylvie Turner (Princess Lylvie in “Think Twice”), Jack Turner and Michael Harwood at the \u201cThink Twice\u201d film premiere at Salem Church on Friday, November 21, 2025.Courtesy of Noel Sutherland<\/p>\n

Steve LaRocca, another parent involved in the project, said that all-in mentality was what made \u201cThink Twice\u201d work.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving all these supportive parents and other people in the community too was really, really helpful. That level of collaboration doesn\u2019t always happen,\u201d LaRocca, of West Brighton, said. \u201cBut I think with a person like Jack especially, he\u2019s really authentic and really good at bringing people together.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked what his favorite part of working on the movie with his dad was, Clyde didn\u2019t hesitate. <\/p>\n

\u201cSeeing my friends and having a great time doing the movie,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I really liked it when Darth Vinnie gets bonked in the head.\u201d<\/p>\n

Heo, whose son Lucas played Jedi Borame and daughter Amelia played Baby Yoda, wasn\u2019t sure at first that the movie would ever actually happen.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven talking about it with Jack, I didn\u2019t know what the final project was going to be,\u201d he said. \u201cI was like, there\u2019s no way this is going to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"StevenSteven Heo, producer\/editor\/sound mixer of \u201cThink Twice,\u201d at the film premiere at Salem Church on Friday, November 21, 2025.Courtesy of Noel Sutherland<\/p>\n

But it did \u2014 slowly, painstakingly, professionally. Heo edited whenever he could, often from the Julliard cafeteria while waiting for his other daughter to finish classes at the School of American Ballet. Visual effects took weeks. The final cut, he admitted, was delivered around 10 a.m. the day of the premiere, with a few last-minute tweaks made shortly afterward. <\/p>\n

What stood out to him most, though, wasn\u2019t the logistics, but the relationship at the center of the project.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat speaks more to Jack and Clyde,\u201d Heo said. \u201cI think they\u2019re very collaborative, and because he\u2019s a producer, I think it\u2019s just kind of magical, I imagine, from the kids\u2019 point of view, like how he gets to put a movie together.<\/p>\n

That magic came into focus at the film\u2019s premiere last month at Salem Church in West Brighton.<\/p>\n

\""ThinkThe cast of \u201cThink Twice\u201d posing in front of the step-and-repeat at the film premiere at Salem Church on Friday, November 21, 2025.Courtesy of Noel Sutherland<\/p>\n

There was a red carpet, professional photographers, a Q&A and lots of pizza. A few hundred people showed up: classmates, teachers, grandparents, neighbors and friends who had been hearing about the movie for over a year. For many of the kids, it was their first time seeing the finished film, and their first time seeing themselves on a big screen.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think they were really, really blown away,\u201d Jack said.<\/p>\n

During the post-screening Q&A, the kids spoke honestly and proudly about what they had made. When asked what their favorite part of the production was, many pointed right back to Clyde and Jack.<\/p>\n

\u201cI most of all liked how amazing Clyde was and the idea of like bringing us all together to make one big movie is very like, I\u2019m very proud of him,\u201d Lucas Heo said. <\/p>\n

Another echoed the sentiment, adding: \u201cHow Clyde and his dad just came together to make this beautiful piece. And lunchtime.\u201d<\/p>\n

\""ThinkJack Turner (far left), Steven Heo (far right) and the cast of \u201cThink Twice\u201d prepare to take a bow at the film premiere at Salem Church on Friday, November 21, 2025.Courtesy of Sean Sweeney<\/p>\n

Clyde eventually took the microphone himself. <\/p>\n

\u201cWell, I am glad that all of you support me and all of you have came,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd of course my favorite part is, well, Darth Vinnie. The heart of the story.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Jack, that moment mattered more than the finished film itself. Clyde is quiet, he said \u2014 thoughtful, observant, not usually the kid rushing to speak up.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn the night of the premiere, he like, very proudly took the microphone and answered questions,\u201d Jack said. \u201cAnd that was like, for me, like, oh my gosh, this has all been worth it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ClydeClyde Turner answering a question at the \u201cThink Twice\u201d film premiere at Salem Church on Friday, November 21, 2025.Courtesy of Noel Sutherland<\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to talk about \u201cThink Twice\u201d as a charming short film (and that it is), but the process is what made it truly special. An entire community came together to collaborate.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we have learned \u2026 is that when our kids have an idea, we lean into it, and we don\u2019t go halfway. We go all the way,\u201d Jack told the crowd at the premiere. \u201cAnd when we reached out to friends and families to see if they would join us on this adventure, everyone else leaned in the same way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MichaelMichael Zeigler (Ghost Monster in \u201cThink Twice\u201d) admiring the film\u2019s movie poster, created by Steven Heo, at the premiere on Friday, November 21, 2025.Courtesy of Sean Sweeney<\/p>\n

As for Clyde, he already has sequel plans in the works.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think since all of you have loved working together in the movie, we might add some more characters and make a \u2018Think Twice 2,\u2019\u201d he teased at the premiere.<\/p>\n

You can watch \u201cThink Twice\u201d below or on Vimeo here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — On a cold Staten Island morning, inside a garden that looked like another planet,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":80792,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[9,24,63,134,136,135],"class_list":{"0":"post-80791","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-staten-island","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-new-york-city","10":"tag-nyc","11":"tag-staten-island","12":"tag-staten-island-headlines","13":"tag-staten-island-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80791","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80791"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80791\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}