Hollywood comes to Grand Valley

Last year, students in Grand Valley's Summer Film Project learned firsthand about 'the industry' from Hollywood cinematographer Jack Anderson. This summer, students will again shoot a movie with Anderson -- and another Hollywood veteran will star in their movie.

James Karen, actor in such movies as Wall Street and Poltergeist and TV's The Practice , will be in Allendale for two weeks beginning May 27 to take the lead role in this summer's student production, Flickering Blue. A 23-member student crew will shoot the movie with Anderson and Karen from about June 1-14.

The public will have an opportunity to meet Karen in 'An Evening with James Karen,' presented by the GVSU School of Communications at 7 p.m. on Friday, May 30, at the Loosemore Auditorium in the DeVos Center, 401 W. Fulton St. in Grand Rapids. Like Bravo's Inside the Actor's Studio cable-TV show, the night will include clips from Karen's work and a question/answer session with a moderator and the audience. The free event is open to the public.

Karen's 55-year career covers theater, television, and feature films. He was recently seen as a Supreme Court justice in the TV Series First Monday . His dozens of films include Mulholland Drive, Any Given Sunday, Fly Boy, Apt Pupil, Behind Enemy Lines, Up Close and Personal, Nixon, Congo, Wall Street, Frances, Poltergeist, The China Syndrome, All the President's Men , and the cult classic The Return of the Living Dead.

This summer marks the 9th annual production of Grand Valley's Summer Film Project, directed by John Harper Philbin, associate professor of communications at GVSU.

'In regular courses during the school year, students get to produce their own short films with their peers and develop their individual voices as filmmakers. But the Summer Film Project provides a unique opportunity to work alongside seasoned pros,' Philbin said. 'Students grow by leaps and bounds during these six weeks -- 12 hour days on a film set is an intensive learning experience that you never forget. It's a lot of fun, too. The crew becomes like family.'

Anderson, who is now back in Allendale (the course began May 5) to direct photography for this summer's production, noted that the opportunity for students to work with film industry professionals is rare, and valuable.

'I know of no college in the country, or the world, that has a summer program like this -- teaming industry professionals with students to make a film,' Anderson said. 'Cornell University tried it once years ago when I was a student there, and it was the best experience I'd ever had -- the reason I got into the business.'

Anderson's 25-year career includes such films as Hook (Steven Spielberg) and Pretty Woman (Garry Marshall) and TV series Mad About You and Third Rock From the Sun. He spent six weeks in Allendale last summer to help students shoot The Freezer Jesus , which won the Grand Jury Award for Best of Festival at the 2003 Kalamazoo Shorts Film and Video Festival.

This year's Flickering Blue, written by Canadian Angelo Eidse of Winnipeg, Manitoba, tells the story of a lonely 80-year-old man who turns off his TV set and ventures out of his apartment on a walk through the city in an attempt to reintegrate into society. Many obstacles stand in his way.

Filming begins June 1 at sites in downtown Grand Rapids, Grand Valley's Allendale Campus, a local mall, and other locales. Featured on-screen will be local actors as well as actors cast through the Screen Actors Guild in Chicago.