Dedicated to the one he loves

- NY, NY - 10/27/11 - NY Special Screening of Tribeca Film's Janie Jones Hosted by American Express. The film stars Abigail Breslin, Frank Whaley and Alessandro Nivola and is directed by David M. Rosenthal. -PICTURED: Keith Kjarval, David M. RosentAlessandro Nivola and Abigail Breslin; right, producers Keith Kjarval and David M. Rosenthal open in Gotham. It's quite a life story, and David M. Rosenthal had the guts to turn it into a movie, "Janie Jones." At Thursday's AMC Loews preem, the writer-helmer dedicated the Tribeca Films pic to his daughter, Julia Larson, now 23, whom he didn't meet until she was 11. "She's the reason I made this movie," Rosenthal said. "The idea of doing something so personal and so exposing was very intimidating to me." In Rosenthal's retelling, Alessandro Nivola is a musician who suddenly must care for his teenage daughter, played by Abigail Breslin. At the Gramercy Terrace after-party, guests were treated to solos by Breslin and Nivola, who is no guitarist novice, having played a lot in school. "Our most glamorous venues were college frat houses for toga parties," he recalled. "I have a distinct memory of a heavyset football player dressed in a toga pouring beer over my head while I was trying to find the chords to 'Magic Carpet Ride.' " Breslin is working on an album with a band called Cabb. Although she loves Fleetwood Mac, don't expect to hear a "Landslide" cover anytime soon. "I'd be terrified to cover that song because it's one of my favorites. Maybe one day," she said. Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com