In the Lyons Den: Location
Part Two For a project like Schism, the main filming location is important. Very important. When director John C. Lyons finally found the assisted living facility that could serve as his character Neil’s home, Lyons described it as “huge.” Of course, calling the development “huge” may be a bit of an understatement for an Erie production without a budget. Regardless of how you want to phrase it, Schism has its main shooting location and the fun is really about to begin. The facility, Brevillier Village, sits at 5416 East Lake Road in Harbor Creek, Pa. With three residential buildings and hundreds of senior residents, Lyons was excited about the many options that the housing and healthcare campus offered. The majority of the indoor scenes will be filmed in the rehabilitation facility known as Ball Pavilion, but it was the...
Read MoreIn the Lyons Den: Screenplay and Auditions
Part One It’s 11:55 a.m., five minutes before auditions begin, and John C. Lyons is talking to a pair of women at a registration table behind the locked doors of the Erie Playhouse Rehearsal Hall, 919 State Street. Outside, where I’m at, 15 or so hopefuls have been waiting, some since 11:30 a.m., to get their shot at a role in Lyons’ first feature film Schism. Dancers. Kids. Older men. Young adults. The crowd is diverse enough, but it’ll get bigger before the day is through. When I leave after watching five auditions, there are 25 people waiting outside the 2nd floor audition space. More actors are downstairs registering and having their photo taken as I exit the building. The auditions will go long with nearly 75 aspiring actors, young and old, auditioning until 6 p.m., long past the...
Read MoreReview: WEDNESDAY (2005)
Wednesday (2005)—**** What is Wednesday about? Is it about love? Is it about redemption? Is it, in fact, an exercise in narcissism? To all three I would say yes, but Wednesday, a unique and experimental film, is above all things a work that struggles with its own ambitions. For most films that would be a criticism. For Justin D. Hilliard’s feature debut, however, it is anything but. With those ambitions intact, the film becomes a harrowing journey through four stories. One is about a young man dealing with his family and his past in relation to his current lover. One is about an old man trying to find his way back to a love that he had lost so long ago. One is about a mother whose dedication to the right things may have not have served its purpose. The third story...
Read MoreReview: BLOW (2001)
Blow (2001)–** Last year, Traffic became a benchmark film and set the tone for the next level of drug movies. The first movie to deal with the subject of drugs since Traffic is Ted Demme’s Blow. Starring Johnny Depp, Blow tries to be as poignant as Traffic while throwing in a bit more fun. Unfortunately, it lacks that power that made Traffic on of the best films of 2000. Blow follows the life of drug trafficker George Jung (Johnny Depp). George grew up in a family where his father (Ray Liotta) barely made enough money to get by. When his father filed for bankruptcy, George made it his life goal to become rich. The search for wealth takes him to California. There, George stars peddling marijuana with a flamboyant hairdresser named Derek (Paul Reubens). The marijuana brings him the life he wanted, but it also results in a sort stint in...
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