he could do, it would not benefit anyone, and he would regret it and lose all his friends. When they were no longer able to get permission to film at parties, Johnson and Bingo had a "Roaring Twenties" themed joint 21st-birthday party for themselves at the East Hampton house of Johnson's parents. A sign posted at the entrance informed the guests they would be filmed for a documentary. They were worried that no one would come to the party because of their unpopularity with the rich due to the film, but four film subjects and 150 other guests attended. The movie ends at the party with Johnson's voice-over about living outside the American dream that was achieved by his great-grandfather. According to Johnson, the decadence of the party was intentional. He had always wanted to film the final scene, where he and Bingo pour Veuve Clicquot into a tower of champagne glasses, "as part of the movie about the unequal distribution of wealth in America." Post-production The editing process took over a year, with 45 hours of footage to edit. While the film was being edited, Wittenborn wrote an article about the film that appeared in the September 2002 issue of W magazine. After hearing early reports about the film, Luke Weil filed a lawsuit on September 4, 2002, demanding that his scenes be removed. The lawsuit was featured in the film. Other film subjects were also apprehensive when the press started reporting about the movie. Weil alleged in the lawsuit that he had been "tricked" into participating in what he thought would solely be a school project. Witternborn recalls that when he was questioned by Weil during the filming, he told Weil about his work in film and television, and that they hoped to sell the film to HBO. Johnson recalls Weil constantly vacillated during the making of the movie between being the most enthusiastic film participant, who expressed his ideas for film scenes, to being nervous about the criticism from his friends regarding his participation. Other film subjects also had regrets about participating and some also claimed they were told that it was a student film and thought it would never be seen by a large audience. Johnson denied any deception, saying they all signed releases that were fully explained to them. In a decision dated September 27, 2002, the New York Supreme Court dismissed Weil's lawsuit, ruling