4-27-07
Two By Letts
Tracy Letts’ thriller screenplay Bug, directed by William Friedkin (The Exorcist, The French Connection) opens May 25 in wide release after premiering at the Cannes Film Festival a year ago. A Steppenwolf ensemble member, Letts adapted the script for Bug from his own play. Michael Shannon (World Trade Center) stars as a paranoid veteran who sees insects everywhere, who holes up in an Oklahoma motel with a lonely woman (Ashley Judd).
“Cop Show,” the comedy pilot that Letts created and co-starred in with David Pasquesi, premieres May 1 in the Midwest Independent Film Festival. Also on the bill: the festival premiere of Wisconsinites Matt Sloan and Aaron Yonda’s online sensation Chad Vader, Parts I, II and III, a Star Wars parody about the Sith lord’s brother, a manager at Empire Market grocery; Sundance alum Justin Hayward’s “Drive Radio”; and Project Greenlight finalist Scott Smith’s Low Note. Screenings begin at 7:30, preceded at 6:30 by staged readings from Chicago ScriptWorks, at Landmark Century Centre Cinema, 2828 N. Clark St. $10 includes after-party at Cousin’s restaurant. See midwestfilm.com.
Chicago Scriptworks’ reading at the Midwest Indie is a preview for Shorts! A Festival of Screenplays. Shorts! features readings of Ryan Crist’s Transfer, Nealy Danielle Gihan’s Dying to Connect, Allan Evans’ Scene From A Restaurant, Charlie Jensen’s Two Men, Vanessa Newell’s A Pregnant Pause, Meena Singh’s Identity, Sarah Warner’s Encapsulated, and Vera Brooks’ Pawns of War. May 23, 6:30-10 p.m. at the Neo-Futurarium, 5153 N. Ashland, 2nd Floor. $15. See chicagoscriptworks.org.
Tom Gustafson and Corey Krueckeberg of SPEAKProductions are shooting the musical feature Were The World Mine here in June. It’s based on their short Fairies, which airs on the LOGO cable network as a winner of the short film series “The Click List: Best Shorts Ever!” It’s inspired by A Midsummer Night’s Dream, with music by Jessica Fogle.
Now based in New York, Gustafson is a Northwestern University alum who has been a casting agent for films including Pirates of the Caribbean II and III, The Road to Perdition, and The Good Shepard. They’re casting for Were The World Mine in Chicago and New York. See speakproductions.com.
Chiopolis Entertainment begins production May 22 on their third short Your Two O’Clock Is Here, which producer Pietro D’Alessio described as “a spiritual piece about a religious figure who returns and is looking for an agent.”
They’re shooting at Chiopolis’ 28,000 sq. ft. Humboldt Park studio, currently under renovation after past incarnations as a methadone clinic, a church and a Woolworth’s, D’Alessio said.
James L. Boyer is directing from a script by executive producer William H. Hayashi and producer Caleb Thusat. Frank J. Kam, Nick Monteleone and Cal Sade are also producing.
D’Alessio, Kam, Monteleone and Sade founded Chiopolis out of the Chicago Independent Artists Network, which Sade established in December. The Network meets weekly at the Chiopolis facility, and Chiopolis publicist Karen Pride is the Network’s moderator, but the two groups are independent of one another.
Chiopolis will premiere their first two productions, Kam’s Decker and Janet Arvia’s Women & Menu, at the inaugural Humboldt Park Film Festival, which Chiopolis is hosting May 11-12. See myspace.com/chiopolis.
Alexander Rojas is shooting Tripp, a short version of his in-development feature Cex Boy, May 31-June 3. He plans to use Tripp to raise financing for Cex Boy.
It’s the story of a teenage Latino skateboarder exploring his Little Village neighborhood and coping with his brother’s shooting death.
Gary Michael Schultz is producer. Executive producer, Fernando Espejel. Armando Ballesteros, who shot Rojas’ Slamdance-selected short Cushion, is shooting on HD.
Schultz is also developing the zombie feature Dead Reign, which he co-wrote with Rojas, for Schultz to direct.
Casting for Tripp is ongoing. See myspace.com/trippthemovie.
Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Films is producing its first theatrical production since the 1998 Winfrey vehicle Beloved.
Fresh from his best actor Oscar win, Forrest Whitaker will star alongside director Denzel Washington in The Great Debaters, from a script by Suzan-Lori Parks and Robert Eisele about the underdog debate team at a small black Texas college. Winfrey is producing with Kate Forte of Harpo, and with Todd Black and Joe Roth. Filming starts in May in Louisiana.
Catherine Crouch of Cotton Lover Films premieres her 20-minute short The Gendercator at the Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival. May 5 at 9:30 p.m. in the Future Shorts program.
The Gendercator is a feminist comedy take on Rip Van Winkle, in which a hippie falls asleep after celebrating Billy Jean King’s victory over Bobby Riggs in 1973, and wakes up in 2048 to discover a world in which gender roles are more rigidly defined than ever.
Starring Emily Wood, Joel Umbaugh, Kelly Gerard and Bob Berry. The Gendercator screens again May 12 at 7 p.m. at Chicago Filmmakers, 5243 N. Clark St., 2nd Floor.
An alum of the Columbia College MFA film program, Crouch is based in Indiana. She directed the 2001 feature Stray Dogs, which was released on DVD by Echelon Entertainment. See catherinecrouch.com.
Mark Harris’ hip-hop thriller feature Holla If You Hear Me is a top seller at online film portal Indieflix. Holla is the story of a group of rappers and R&B artists locked overnight in a recording studio being picked off by the competition. Starring producer Cyn Dulay, Lorenzo Hunt, Cherokee Princess, Danielle Carter, Terrence Mardis and Revelation 810.
Holla is also out on DVD through UNR World Entertainment, and Harris and Dulay are planning a theatrical self-release this spring. Harris, of 1555 Filmworks, is the director of Barber Shop Jokes Live In Chicago. He’s developing the feature Black Butterfly: I Used to Love Her for a summer production. It’s a drama about a troubled inner city teen girl competing for a spot on the U.S. Olympic swim team. Casting is currently open. E-mail markharrisfilms@sbcglobal.net.
Ed M. Koziarski is in post-production on the feature film The First Breath of Tengan Rei, formerly Untitled Okinawa Project. E-mail edk@homesickblues.com.