ACTOR DAVID PASQUESI’S TV SERIES, “Factory,” will bow June 29 on Spike TV, but Pasquesi may not see the premiere episode in Rome, where he’s garnering a nifty credit in the super big-budget “Angels and Demons” from Imagine Entertainment.
It’s based on the Dan Brown novel, actually the prequel to “The DaVinci Code,” and Tom Hanks again portrays symbologist Robert Langdon.
The largely improvised “Factory” is about four guys ? Mitch Rouse, Jay Leggett, Michael Coleman and Pasquesi — who grew up together in the same small Illinois town and now work in the local factory.
When a work-related accident creates a job opening, the guys have to decide who should get the promotion, which unfortunately might require actual work.
Pasquesi, an award-winning actor and improviser, will write and produce some of the episodes. He’s represented by Innovative Artists.
SAG’S 75TH ANNIVERSARY anticipates around 500 guests at the June 21 at Salvage One. Chicago natives Virgina Madse and her brother Michel Madsen are SAG’s special guests. Tickets are $125 at the door and the party runs from 7 to 11 p.m.
QUITE A COUP for the Midwest Independent Film Festival ? scoring the Chicago premiere of Steppenwolf Film’s comedy “Diminished Capacity” for its July 1 screening.
The movie is about a man ( Matthew Broderick) suffering from memory loss who takes a trip to a memorabilia expo with his Alzheimer’s-impaired relative ( Alan Alda) and his high school flame ( Virginia Madsen ), where the trio plans to finalized their scheme to sell a rare baseball card.
Steppenwolf co-founder Terry Kinney directed and Tim Evans was executive producer.
WHILE ACTOR DAVID SCHWIMMER was in town last month, he went to Vagabond Audio to narrate a 90-minute multimedia tour of the Hancock Observatory for Antenna, a company that produces audio tours.
The tour, contained in a handheld device with a video component, will become available June 30. Vagabond’s Drew Weir engineered the session.
MEET MICHAEL PHILLIPS, the Tribune’s popular film critic, who will tell the Chicago Screenwriters Network meeting July 6 “What makes a good story a great movie ? and what makes a good story a lousy movie.” The CSN meets the first Sunday of the month at the Lincoln Restaurant.
THE 20TH ONION CITY EXPERIMENTAL FILM FESTIVAL will run from June 19-22 at three different venues, and for the first time, will also include a complimentary gallery exhibition June 17-28 at the U of I’s Gallery 400.
Opening Night takes place at the Gene Siskel Center, Friday (June 20) at the new Nightingale space in Wicker Park, and the weekend (June 21-22) at Chicago Filmmakers, which hosts the festival fixture in Chicago.
TALE A LOOK at our Screenings column for something to do just about every night of the week. Send us news of your next event and we’ll help fill those seats.
OSHKOSH-BASED IATSE Local 470 business agent Stephen Dedow was more than pleased ? make that EXTREMELY delighted – with the economic impact of “Public Enemies'” having shot in the area.
He estimates that wages for 470 members who worked on “Public Enemies,” which shot for five weeks in the area, including future estimates for post, totaled $345,397, or $419,952 with wage/benefits.
To put it in perspective, he says, “In 2007 our total payroll revenues brushed $2 million for the entire year. In five weeks we have achieved over 20% of that total with this single production.”
