TV Talk: Pittsburgh-filmed movie ‘Dear Zoe’ releases on demand, in theaters
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Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week.
It’s difficult to imagine a more Pittsburgh-y movie than the indie feature “Dear Zoe.”
With scenes filmed at Kennywood, on the North Shore, in the Strip District, in Squirrel Hill and Braddock; with a glimpse of “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” on a TV and Iron City Beer, Steelers and Penguins logos adorning many walls and even some Pittsburghese (“You’re gonna start reddin’ up your room!”), “Dear Zoe” could easily have been titled “Dear Pittsburgh.”
That was by design, said Sonoma, Calif.-based screenwriter/producer Marc Lhormer (“Bottle Shock”), who grew up on the Shadyside/Oakland border and is a 1978 graduate of Shady Side Academy.
“We wanted to do the love letter to Pittsburgh,” Lhormer said in a recent phone interview.
“Dear Zoe” will be available Friday on video on demand for rental or purchase on cable and satellite systems and via streaming platforms (Amazon, iTunes, GooglePlay, Vudu, YouTube). The film will also show in local theaters beginning the same day (Manor Theatre, Waterworks Cinemas, Cranberry Cinemas, Century Square Luxury Cinemas).
“Dear Zoe” is based on the 2005 novel by Pittsburgh writer Philip Beard, who saw the first film produced by Marc and his wife/producing partner Brenda Lhormer, “Bottle Shock,” at the Waterworks Cinema in 2008. Lhormer’s childhood acquaintance writer/producer Carl Kurlander (“St. Elmo’s Fire”) — they were in the same Shady Side Junior Academy carpool – introduced Lhormer and Beard.
The Lhormers and their Zin Haze Productions acquired the rights to adapt “Dear Zoe” as a film with Pittsburgher Melissa Martin (“The Bread, My Sweet”) as screenwriter. A family emergency prompted Martin to withdraw from “Dear Zoe” in 2010, leading Marc to take up the writing mantle with a goal of getting the film made for the 10th anniversary of 9/11 in 2011.
“Stranger Things” actress Sadie Sink stars in “Dear Zoe” as Tess, who recounts the death of her younger sister Zoe on Sept. 11, 2001, completely unrelated to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The film also stars Theo Rossi (“Sons of Anarchy”) as Tess’ father, Jessica Capshaw (“Grey’s Anatomy”) as Tess’ mother and Justin Bartha (“National Treasure”) as Tess’ stepfather. Young actress Vivien Lyra Blair, who played a young Princess Leia in “Obi-Wan Kenobi,” filmed her role as Tess’ sister, Em, prior to journeying to a galaxy far, far away.
So why an 11-year delay between the initial “Dear Zoe” release plan and what actually happened? The Lhormers were tapped to create the Napa Valley Film Festival, which took all their time from 2010 until they quit in 2018 to get back to “Dear Zoe.”
They filmed “Dear Zoe” in Pittsburgh in fall 2019 for around $5 million (they applied for but did not receive Pennsylvania’s film tax credit incentives). The film was complete in 2020, and Lhormer, who always wanted the film to have some theatrical play, considered a September 2021 release to coincide with the 20th anniversary of 9/11, but the covid-19 delta variant scuttled those plans.
Lhormer said “Dear Zoe” arrives in November to coincide with children’s grief awareness month, which includes Pittsburgh’s Caring Place marking of children’s grief awareness day on Nov. 17.
“I went and met the people there and became very close with them,” Lhormer said. “It ties in a very poignant way to that notion that you’ve probably heard that the holidays are really hard, especially the first year after someone’s died.”
Some of the local actors featured in “Dear Zoe” include Laurie Klatscher (“Outsiders”), Adrienne Wehr (“Riddle”), Jonathan Visser (“Banshee”), Sophie Guest (“Them”), and Mckenzie Noel Rusiewicz as Zoe.
In a scene where Tess and her father go to church, the actual pastor and singer of Resurrection Baptist Church in Braddock, Richard Freeman Sr. and Annie Cunningham, play the church’s pastor and soloist.
Lhormer said Rossi worked in a little Pittsburghese — a scene with a “how about them Stillers?” landed on the cutting room floor — but producers opted not to go whole hog.
“If you’re not a native speaker, it’s a tricky accent to really get right,” Lhormer said. “He gave it a shot to be a little more Pittsburgh, but we said, ‘Let’s not mess with it. Let’s really focus on your character.’ It’s such a great character. He’s a many-layered person.”
Lhormer worked in a reference to Busy Beaver, the home improvement store his father founded in 1962, by having Rossi’s character wear a Busy Beaver apron while grilling during a cookout scene.
Shooting at Kennywood over two weekdays in October 2019 when the park was closed to the public worked out well other than some inclement weather.
“They were thrilled to have us, especially since in our film Kennywood is not Adventureland or some other park,” Lhormer said, referencing the 2009 film “Adventureland” that filmed at Kennywood.
“Dear Zoe” will have its premiere Wednesday at a sold out public showing at the August Wilson African American Center in Downtown Pittsburgh. Star Sadie Sink is expected to attend.
A Q&A with producers will follow a second, open-to-the-public screening at the Oaks Theater in Oakmont on Thursday. “Dear Zoe” will play at 7:30 p.m. with the Q&A at 9 p.m. (cost: $20 per person, includes popcorn).