Joe Minoso,
Colleen Griffen,
Joe Chappelle,
Dru Anne Carlson, and
Josh Greiveldinger
are among the short
action film’s supporters
On October 20th, 13-year-old Bonaparte Moutima was filmed in the starring role of The Serum, a thriller due for release later this year.
The Serum is the story of a doctor who develops a superpower-inducing potion to defeat his jealous former colleague. Moutima stars as the hero. Chicago Fire’s Joe Minoso is the bad guy. The action was filmed at McCormick Place in Chicago.
Moutima secured the role through by way of the Make-A-Wish foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to “grant(ing) the wish of every child diagnosed with a critical illness.”
According to producer Josh Greiveldinger, the Joliet native helped get The Serum into production by doing far more than merely wishing for it to happen.
“Bonaparte can be a bit shy, but he has enjoyed creating the film and giving his input,” Greiveldinger explains. “In addition to coming up with the storyline and helping fine-tune the script, he has rehearsed with director Dru Anne Carlson, cast one of his friends in a role, and spoke on the phone with Chicago producer Colleen Griffen and Chicago Fire Executive Producer Joe Chappelle to help clarify his vision.”
Greiveldinger says that Griffen also contributed as a “hands-on” producer and insists that, “I couldn’t have done it without her.”
Make-A-Wish received support from several other members of the Chicago film community to help Moutima, who “for many years … has been fighting a life-threatening blood disorder,” according to a press release.
The star power of Minoso and Carlson — who has been Chicago Fire’s Script Supervisor since 2012 — complemented an entire seasoned crew on hand for the shoot.
“Bonaparte was surrounded by professional craftspeople and actors during his day on set,” says Greiveldinger, who adds that, “I am personally really excited to help produce this film.”
Besides serving as producer on The Serum, Greiveldinger is a Chicago-based actor and writer who wrote and starred in the 2016 short crime thriller, Blood Brothers, and played the role of JJ Jameson in the feature-length family mystery, Murder! A Love Story, currently in post-production.
Part of his motivation to help complete The Serum comes from his own experience with Make-A-Wish.
“My family was lucky enough to go on a ‘Wish Trip’ to Disney World when I was younger, as my brother’s wish,” he says. “It’s great to not only give back to an organization that was able to give such a gift to my own family, but to be able to use my talents to give a kid an experience that I really value and care about.”
Send your film updates to Reel Chicago Editor Dan Patton, dan@reelchicago.com.
