Working on a movie set is not in the job description for Trinidad Gonzalez, the head custodian at Lyon Magnet Elementary School in Waukegan, but it became part of his daily routine for four days in October.
Along with providing directors Alex Thompson and Kelly O’Sullivan with his local knowledge of the building, getting them things they needed and keeping the hallways quiet, Gonzalez was an extra in the movie “Ghostlight” and was listed in the credits.
“We all sat in chairs and somebody said, ‘Are you okay,’ Gonzalez said. “Then they said, ‘cut.’ We did it like five times. It took a total of 45 minutes.
As for his appearance in the credits, he added, “That’s awesome. They didn’t forget about me.”
“He knew where everything was, and got it ready for us,” O’Sullivan said.
As a real-life mother, father and daughter play mom, dad and teen, “Ghostlight” opens Friday at the Wayfarer Theater in Highland Park, giving viewers a look at scenes shot mostly in Waukegan, but also Highland Park, Highwood, Deerfield, Northbrook and Lincolnwood.
O’Sullivan, a Chicagoan, the screenwriter and one of the directors, said the movie is about Don, a construction worker played by Keith Kupferer of Evanston, who walks into a theater. In real life, it is Waukegan’s Three Brothers Theatre’s original building.
“He stumbles into a community theater production of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ and is forced to confront circumstances of his own life,” O’Sullivan said. “There’s a big emotional arc he goes through.”
While at home with his wife, played by his actual spouse, Tara Mallen, and daughter, acted by Katherine Mallen Kupferer, Mallen said they transferred their family dynamic to the screen.
“Kelly wrote a lovely screenplay which fit us very well,” she said. “We were able to bring our family dynamic to the movie.”
“It was a joy working with my wife and daughter,” Kupferer said. “We brought our chemistry as father and daughter with us. We didn’t have to learn it.”
Of the 26 days it took to make the movie, Thompson said 14 were spent in Waukegan with scenes at the beach and on Genesee Street, as well as the theater, the school and other places. The trailer shows multiple Waukegan scenes.
Looking for an ideal setting for the film, Thomson said Waukegan Mayor Ann Taylor and David Motley, the city’s director of public relations, made it easy. When they needed a location, Motley usually found it in Waukegan.
“People really opened their doors to us,” Thompson said. “When we needed a theater, he found us one. When we needed a bar, he talked to the owner of La Opera. The Waukegan community really opened up to us.”
Motley, who has more than 30 years in his job, said part of what he does is find locations for movie-makers. Most of the time, they want to shoot scenes on the Amstutz Expressway as the “Chicago Fire” television show did just under two years ago.
“I’m very lucky to have so many folks we can work with,” Motley said. “Waukegan often has what a location manager needs. When they said they needed a theater with parking in front, I knew who to call. The same with a school.”
With Thompson and O’Sullivan residents of Chicago’s Rogers Park neighborhood, and the Kupferer-Mallen family living in Evanston, Mallen said the production has a very Chicagoland flavor. Only one actor is an out-of-towner.
