'Everything's Jake' released after 7 years

NEW YORK , Dec. 22 (UPI) -- U.S. actor Ernie Hudson is thrilled people are finally getting to see a celebrated film he finished seven years ago, but which never got a theatrical release.

"Everything's Jake," a movie about a kind, resourceful homeless man living on the streets of New York, was released on DVD recently.

"I thought it might never get out there," Hudson told UPI in a recent phone interview. "Now, at least, people will have a chance to see it."

"It played at a number of festivals, won a lot of them, took top prize. Audiences all really responded well and they always have to the movie," explained the actor, who is best-known for his iconic roles in the "Ghostbusters" blockbusters and TV series "Oz."

Hudson said that when the filmmakers approached movie studios about distributing "Everything's Jake," however, "the people who made those decisions weren't as receptive."

"There were a lot of things that didn't fit their model and so we never got a distributor and then, by coincidence, someone from Warner Bros. happened to see the movie and they agreed to distribute it (on DVD) just when we had pretty much moved on to other things," he said. "So it worked out fine."