Rusty
Gorman has the singular distinction of being the only Chicago filmmaker whose
narrative motion picture will screen at the 2007 Chicago International Film Festival.
Gorman wrote and directed the $3.7 million
feature, “Home of the Giants,” with a solid cast headed by Oscar-nominated
Haley Joel Osment and rising star Ryan Merriman and Disney darling Danielle Panabaker.
“Giants” follows Indiana high
school sports journalist Gar (Osment) as he’s persuaded by his best friend
and basketball star Matt (Merriman) into robbing a drug dealer. Things don’t
go as planned and Gar faces a desperate predicament with the state title and Matt’s
future on the line. Gorman says his coming-of-age
film will “give more than you’d expect, with curveballs coming from
different genres—lots of thriller, suspense, and humor elements.” A
seasoned writer/director, Gorman is no newcomer to the challenges of feature filmmaking.
He spent more than a decade in L.A. learning his craft in different areas—and
along the way earning an MFA in film from USC—after graduating NU in 1985.
The Indiana native wrote the “Giants”
screenplay in 1997 but production didn’t take off until he met his producing
partner Dan Schalk. “We started off as two guys trying to raise money to
make the movie in summer of 2005,” said Gorman. Prior
to “Giants,” success was almost twice within the grasp of Gorman and
his then-L.A.-based writing partner, Jon Felson. They sold two different stories
to Columbia Pictures in 2004 and Cynergi Pictures the following year. But nothing
came of either one. SymPics International
of Greensboro, N.C. was the initial funder, at whose behest Indiana-set “Giants”
was shot in North Carolina. Their funding petered out after 80% of the footage
was in the can.  | Enter
RDS. “They took a chance and worked like mad entertaining potential investors
for four or five months,” said Gorman. A short trailer cut by RDS was instrumental
in convincing potential funders. The final
20% of the footage was filmed in L.A., with some scenes in Chicago, and the 20%
completion funding was ultimately provided by L.A.-based Blue Rider Entertainment
through RDS' efforts. |
They’re
working on a distribution deal, which should be finalized within the next 30-45
days, Gorman said. Entering “Giants”
in CIFF wasn't a planned part of their marketing strategy and its acceptance pleased
them. Gorman said he submitted his movie to the Chicago fest thinking “it
would be fun since I live here.” Gorman
and his wife, Gayle, moved back to the Midwest in ’96. “To me, Chicago
is a great place to raise a family,” he said. The Gormans have three children.
“I grew up in the Midwest, so I'm trying to make it work with the entertainment
industry.” From his Lakeview office,
Gorman is currently hunkered over his latest project, a screenplay based on Pulitzer
Prize winner Jeffrey Marx’s book, “Season of Life,” about Joe Ehrmann,
a former NFL football star. |  |
“Home
of the Giants” will screen at Landmark Century Center Cinema Oct. 12 at 6:45
p.m. and Oct. 14 at noon; at AMC River East 21, Oct. 16, 9:30 p.m. See
www.chicagofilmfestival.org. Following
CIFF, “Giants” will screen six times, Oct. 20-24 at the Heartland Film
Festival in Indianapolis. Be
sure to read the original article | 
