Movie 'Love Chronicles (of the Cape)' shot locally will tell stories inspired by real life

When Adam Rookard rubbed his snot on a fellow cheerleader in high school, he never told the girl it was him. Now, almost three years later, he's owning up to it.

This story may not seem like the type of thing someone would want to make a movie about, but it's one of the many life stories of Southeast Missourians that will appear in the movie "Love Chronicles (of the Cape)."

Sunday night at Shawnee Park Center concluded three days of filming for writer and director Dan Steadman and his film crew. One of their final scenes was the story of the cheerleader who sneezed during a back tuck and wiped his hands on the girl he was spotting. Afterward, he had to own up to his embarrassing moment.

After hearing about Rookard's real-life story in his audition last year, Steadman decided to add a love aspect and make the two become a couple, adding them to the "mockumentary."

"I didn't know what to expect -- I just came and winged it," Rookard said. "[Steadman] kind of spit-balled it as an idea. I didn't think he was going to go through with it, and then he was like, 'Oh, you two are going to be boyfriend/girlfriend now,' and I was like, 'Well, all right.'"

Real-life cheerleaders Adam Rookard, left, and Kathryn McWilson portray the same while interviewed during filming of the movie "Love Chronicles (of the Cape)" on Sunday at Shawnee Park Center in Cape Girardeau. (Fred Lynch)

"Love Chronicles (of the Cape)" is an independent film being produced by Circa 87. Past movies Circa 87 has been involved in were Missouri-area-filmed indies "Belleville" and "Expect Delays," which were released in the past two years.

"'Belleville,' which was shot in Belleville, Illinois, kind of blew up," said Steadman, of Los Angeles. "Our actress from St. Louis won the American Movie Award for best supporting actress. ... Her name is Cooper Shaw. And then it got released in 13 cities -- which never happens with an independent film -- through Wehrenberg, and one of those cities was Cape Girardeau. So in all 13 cities, we held casting sessions and this was one of them, so that's how we found 150 people here."

"Love Chronicles (of the Cape)" originated as a sports-themed flick, but Steadman altered his idea before filming and decided to make it on the broader subject of love. He said approximately 80 scenes were shot in the three days -- in Cape Girardeau and De Soto, Missouri -- and that he's hopeful the film will be release by early April.

A news release from Circa 87 says the movie is described as "Love, Actually" meets "Waiting for Guffman."

Steadman said he is familiar with the faux-documentary style because of his work with the film "Jesus People," which co-starred Academy Award winner Octavia Spencer, "Bridesmaids" actress Wendi McLendon-Covey and "Austin Powers" actress Mindy Sterling.

"The process is the same [as that of a larger movie]. They're still just playing interesting characters, half improvised, half scripted," Steadman said. "I would say this movie, of the scripted scenes, they were very scripted, but I always gave actors the opportunity to loosen it up and say their own words. Unless it was a punch line -- then I wanted them to get it right.

"But my goal as a director is to make it conversational," he said. "I want people to watch 'Love Chronicles (of the Cape),' and I want them to not know who is real. 'Were those actors? Was it a documentary for real? Are those people really a family?' I want people to [get involved] by asking those types of questions."

About 60 people gathered Sunday night in the Shawnee Park Center to act as the crowd for the cheerleading/snot fiasco, and after three takes, the cast was released. This is how Steadman said the entire weekend has gone, "like covering the news," only his small crew of about five people has covered 80 stories in a weekend.

Steadman said there were more than 100 speaking roles in the film, more than he had ever worked with before, and out of all of them, all but three actors or actresses were local. Scenes were also shot at Cup 'N' Cork and Cream of the Crust in downtown Cape Girardeau.

He said he plans to take off today and start editing Tuesday.

smaue@semissourian.com

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