Filmmaker, playwright and theater director Stephen Cone returns to his native South Carolina this July to make his semiautobiographical third feature, “The Wise Kids.”
The son of a Baptist minister in Charleston, where “Wise Kids” is set, Cone tells the story of “teenagers who’ve grown up in the church, who at some point either do or don’t start questioning their own faith, sexuality,” he says.
“I grew up around them. I was one. I always knew I’d eventually make my Youth Group Movie. This is it.”
Shooting July 19-Aug. 14 “The Wise Kids” is an ensemble coming-of-age drama revolving around the high school graduates at a Baptist church: the doubtful pastor’s daughter, her devout best friend, and a young gay man.
“I really want lots and lots of teenagers to see this film. I think it’ll encourage good things, and be entertaining for them,” Cone says.
The “Wise Kids” cast is a mix of Chicagoans cast by Matt Miller, Mickie Paskal, C.S.A. and Jennifer Rudnicke, C.S.A; and actors cast locally around Charleston. “We’re taking some amazing folks down with us and then we’ll just do the hard work we need to do dialect-wise,” Cone says.
