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| Gregory Edwards shoots his debut feature “Sullivan” this June. |
Gregory Edwards is out to tell a quintessential Chicago story.
“For me, Chicago is about buildings and large construction, powerful families controlling the city, the son taking over for the father,” said Edwards, the writer/director/producer of the upcoming feature production “Sullivan.”
His initial inspiration was Richard Nickel, the architectural preservationist who was killed salvaging remnants from a Louis Sullivan building that was being demolished. (Nickel was memorialized in the Lookingglass Theater’s production “They All Fall Down: The Richard Nickel Story.”)
Patrick O’Brien stars as Jack Sullivan, Jr., heir to a corrupt Irish-American construction empire, who learns a secret that pits him against his family.
“It is a film which investigates the burden of legacy, the corruption behind large-scale construction, and the racial divisiveness of Chicago politics,” Edwards said.
Edwards developed the story along with cast members at the Irish American Heritage Center’s Shapeshifters Theater. Beau O’Reilly, who was Edwards’ MFA advisor at the School of the Art Institute, introduced Edwards to the Shapeshifters, for whom he was directing the play “Sacrilege.” Edwards cast several actors from Shapeshifters productions in a short he was shooting, and began what has proven to be a fruitful collaboration.
“A lot of the ideas for the film came from many evenings hanging out in the bar of the Heritage Center,” Edwards said. “The details of the story were worked out with the cast. It’s an actor’s film. I consider myself lucky that I managed to pry a lot of these great theater actors away from the stage to do the film. If actors stay in Chicago it’s because they love the theater.”
O’Reilly is acting in “Sullivan” along with a number of performers from Shapeshifters shows. The ensemble cast of 20 speaking roles features Morgan McCabe, Kristen Williams, Aaron Christensen, and Tim Smith.
“Sullivan” is shooting on 24P DV in Chicago throughout June. Edwards raised the under-a-million dollar budget from private financing through his production company Apoyando. Core crew are production manager/AD Heidi Broadhead, cinematographer Leah Meyerhoff, and art director Ilana Manaster, all former classmates of Edwards at SAIC.
Edwards came to filmmaking via his work as a web designer. “From there I moved into Internet video, and digital video,” he said. “I naturally ended up with film as a way to find an amalgam of my three great loves, writing, photography, and music.”
Reach Edwards at gse@apoyando.com.
– by Ed M. Koziarski, edk@homesickblues.com
