The Romanossaince Enters Stage Two With the Trailer for Ray Romano’s Directorial Debut Film


Romano, a Queens native, has worn many hats since the conclusion of Everybody Loves Raymond in 2005 — he continued his family comedy career in the countless Ice Age sequels, and he had a brief stint showrunning a self-starred sitcom on Men of a Certain Age. More recently, Romano moved into mumblecore movies and touching indie darling films with lauded performances in Kumail Nanjiani’s Oscar-nominated rom-com The Big Sick and Mark Duplass’ tearjerker Paddleton.

With Somewhere in Queens, Romano is further expanding his horizons in a way few 1990s stand-up comedians who struck lucrative sitcom deals have before — we can’t imagine a Roseanne Barr or a Tim Allen-type getting the kind of roles that Romano has enjoyed in the last decade or so, let alone a directing deal from Lionsgate. At 65 years old, Romano is still reinventing himself in a way his peers either can’t or won’t.

Romanos continued evolution this many decades into an already accomplished career is an admirable approach to his craft. In an age when sitcoms from the Everybody Loves Raymond era are striking reboot deals left and right, Romano would rather write and direct his first feature film than retread the sitcom path. Besides, we dont need CBS to give us Everybody Still Loves Raymond — we already know its the truth.

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