Teen actress Joey King (“The Conjuring,” FX’s “Fargo”) will star in Corn Bred Films’ suspenseful coming-of-age indie drama “Oriole Park,” along with Joel Murray (“Mad Men”), Tom Arnold (“Happy Endings”), Thomas Beaudoin (“Other Plan”) and Christian Stolte (“Chicago Fire”).
The story is about a young woman struggling with her mother’s death and her father’s descent into alcoholism in late 1978, as her Chicago neighborhood is rocked by disappearances leading to serial killer John Wayne Gacy’s arrest.
Eric Anderson, who co-wrote the screenplay and is co-producing with his wife and partner Amelia Dellos, says the story was inspired by true events from Dellos’ childhood in Norwood Park.
“It has drama, teenage romance and suspense while exploring the effects of violence within a small, tight-knit community,” he adds.
Working with an estimated budget of $1 million from private investors, “Oriole Park” is scheduled to film in October in the Norwood Park neighborhood where Dellos and Gacy both lived. The shadowy Gacy is played by Stoltle.
Director is Kevin Slack of New Jersey, an accomplished music video director whose work includes The Gaslight Anthem band’s “Here Comes My Man” and “Handwritten,” both of which have amassed more than one million views each online.
Gold record recording artist Brian Fallon, lead singer of The Gaslight Anthem, will compose the film’s soundtrack.
Chicago entrepreneur Steve Johns, CEO of Reed’s Rigging, is executive producer and sales agent is Morris Ruskin’s LA-based international Shoreline Entertainment, which has acquired worldwide rights to Oriole Park.
Corn Bred Films’ previous films include the documentary Love Under Fire: The Story of Bertha and Potter Palmer and Other Plans, a romantic comedy starring Jamie Kennedy, Rebecca Blumhagen, and Malik Yoba.