Alex LeMay was well into production on his feature doc “The Bulls of Suburbia” when he got the call from Universal Pictures.
“They asked if we had any bullfighting footage they could use, and I told them I was on my way back to Mexico, so we upgraded to Super 35 and they bought 30 seconds to use in ‘Seabiscuit,'” LeMay recalled. “As far as I know it’s the only existing Super 35mm bullfighting footage. It was a pretty big feather in our cap for our film.”
LeMay presents a preview screenings of “The Bulls of Suburbia” April 20 at the John David Mooney Foundation International Currents Gallery. The film will have its official world premiere this June at the Filmstock International Film Festival in England.
“Bulls” chronicles LeMay’s journey to become a bullfighter, beginning at the California Academy of Tauromaquia (CAT), the only bullfighting school in the United States. The doc follows LeMay over three years as he travels with CAT founder Coleman Cooney to Mexico, and finally to Spain.
“This is a story about, in a time of incredible fear, how people manage their fears and look at themselves and say, ‘what am I capable of doing?'” LeMay said.
A Canadian native, LeMay spent his childhood in Spain, where his father was a university professor. “Bullfighting was my baseball,” he recalled. “I took it for granted and never thought that Americans would find it strange. It’s a family event rooted in the culture. After Franco all things traditionally Spanish were ostracized, but in the ?90s it made a big comeback and it’s now the biggest spectator event in Spain next to soccer.”
LeMay raised the under-$150,000 budget from private investors through his Taproot Productions. He’s aiming for international TV sales, but recognizes that the controversial subject matter will scare off some distributors and festival programmers. “The distribution entity that decides to release it is going to be very brave, but they’ll enjoy the benefits,” he said.
LeMay founded Taproot in Canada in 1991 and moved the company to Chicago in 1994. Taproot has a staff of four and offers full-service production from conception through post.
Taproot co produced the nonfiction TV pilot “Conversations with the Enemy” with novelist Michael Reynolds. The North Carolina-based Reynolds, with his wife, K.A. Applegate, has written the best-selling young adult sci-fi series “Animorphs” and “Everworld”. Reynolds is host of “Conversations” and financier through Reynolds-Applegate Media.
“We went into cafes in Paris and Barcelona and Moscow, while the Iraq War was in full swing and political discussions were already raging, and asked people ‘what is it about Americans that you have a problem with?'” LeMay said. “They told us, ‘this is what we can’t stand about your country,’ but they have a tremendous love for us as well.” Studio footage was shot at Essanay. LeMay said some East Coast PBS stations are in talks to pick up the series.
Taproot and Reynolds-Applegate are also collaborating on a series of state political campaign commercials for the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee. “We’re their exclusive provider of commercials,” LeMay said. “We’ve created these modular, high-end ads” which can be combined with candidate-specific content on short notice, he said. “We did one ad on spec in 15 hours from conception to release.”
“Bulls” producers are LeMay, Mike Russell, Dan Walcher and Ramiro Gonzalez. Kevin Leeser shot, and edited with Russell.
“The Bulls of Suburbia” preview screening is Tuesday, April 20 at the Mooney Foundation, 114 W. Kinzie. Reception at 5:30 p.m., screening at 6:15 p.m.
Taproot Productions is at 2634 W. Logan Blvd. ; phone, 773/384-1707. See www.taprootproductions.com.
? by Ed M. Koziarski, edk@homesickblues.com.
