On a cold New England night in March, the spacious, gated house on Circular Ave. in Hamden, Conn. looks like it should be in a movie. And soon it will be: the Quinnipiac University-owned house is the set of “The Mercury Cycle.”
“The Mercury Cycle” is a full-length feature film, being produced primarily by Quinnipiac students and featuring cast members from the Connecticut area.
Graduating Quinnipiac senior Vincent Grippi, who wrote the script, said the obstacles and stress while making the film have been immense. “Looking at it on paper, this movie shouldn’t have worked out,” he said. “There were times I felt I was going to catch fire and explode, and there were other times I felt like I could fly.”
Grippi said his work is “just about telling a story.” He added that the two most important themes of “The Mercury Cycle” are the two-sided nature of every story, and the idea that it’s never too late to turn a life around.
According to a synopsis, the film follows a socially anxious college student who finds himself immersed in a “mysterious underground cult.” That cult has produced the “Mercury Cycle,” a “mysterious pill-induced visit to the past.”
Grippi classifies the film as a “psychological thriller/drama.” He wrote the script last summer, hoping to win a Quinnipiac Film Society (QFS) competition. The 90-page script was too long for the competition because most scripts were only 30 pages.
However, QFS members Cody Hoerig and Zach Salsman knew they had read something special. 22-year-old graduating Quinnipiac senior and former QFS president Hoerig said in November, “It's so well written, and I was like, 'We can't do it for the contest but let's do it.'”
And so it began. “We all knew it was going to be extremely hard and time consuming,” Hoerig said five months later. The well-built, blond-haired and outgoing Hoerig is directing and producing the movie.
Last fall, a cast and crew were recruited and a filming schedule was drawn up. As early as November, the team was considering legal issues and determining the best way to market their work.
According to Grippi, legalities have included the necessary removal of “The Little Mermaid” from the film at the orders of Disney, as well as the re-designing of all brand names that appear in scenes. “The Mercury Cycle” also earned a copyright from the U.S. government in April, after first applying in September.
Filmmaking requires release forms from cast members and permits to film in different locations. “If there’s any little thing that you’re not sure of, get it in writing,” Grippi said. In addition to writing the script, Grippi is the executive producer of “The Mercury Cycle.”
Grippi describes the budget as in excess of $10,000. On December 7 of last year, $2,059 was raised at a fundraiser with family and friends of the cast and crew on campus. Additional funding for the project has come from donations and T-shirt sales. At times, Grippi said those working on “The Mercury Cycle” have made ends meet by paying out of their own pockets.
Filming began last January. “The Mercury Cycle” team consists of more than 50 people. The crew is made up of students from Quinnipiac and other schools in the surrounding area. The cast, mostly from the tri-state area, is made up primarily of non-students of different age groups.
By spring, after months of filming in winter weather, significant progress had been made. “This thing is really forming, man,” Grippi said in April.
Even with such meticulous preparation, making the film has been anything but easy. The team did not finish that night of shooting on Circular Ave. until 4 a.m.
“We had a 19-hour day,” Salsman said. The 22-year-old graduating Quinnipiac senior serves as the director of photography and head editor for “The Mercury Cycle” and was vice president of QFS.
“The Mercury Cycle” was only authorized to shoot on Circular Ave. for two weekends, and large windows meant that even indoor nighttime scenes needed to be shot in the dark. “Those factors put together equal a very long day,” Salsman said later.
I arrived at around 8:30 p.m. to see a tired cast and crew. Many of them had more than seven hours of work remaining. Exhaustion was evident amid a hectic set, with wires, lights and cameras spread about the unoccupied off-campus dormitory.
“Having 13 people on set, plus us, is just insane,” the amicable Salsman said to those around him. Coordinating a scene in his Red Sox baseball cap, jeans and a red windbreaker, Salsman pinned himself against trees and bushes as he waited for the opportunity to film. The team needs total silence to shoot. Sirens, planes and conversations make filming difficult.
According to Salsman, “The Mercury Cycle” uses a digital Panasonic HVX video camera to film.
The necessarily chaotic situation is organized as well as possible. Though most are college students, there is nothing amateur about this cast and crew. Hand-held radios are used for communication and shots are meticulously planned. Wardrobes are well prepared as well.
The crew keeps track of which actors need to stay and which can go home if their scenes are completed. Such precision was a goal from the beginning. “I knew that I wanted to make this as professional as possible,” Grippi said.
The script itself has changed since Grippi first wrote it in the summer of 2008. “It’s a completely different film than what I imagined it to be,” he said, although that had been his intention all along.
The difference between the script and the movie is cause for some disagreement between Grippi and Hoerig. However, they’ve worked through that issue effectively. “I’m very proud of Cody’s (Hoerig’s) work,” Grippi said.
After months of filming in New York and Connecticut, progress is being made. Salsman has started to edit scenes. He discussed the rewarding feeling that comes from seeing scenes shot on different days become cohesive. “This fits together,” Hoerig said. “We must be doing something right.”
But the filmmakers have faced some significant obstacles. Over the winter, the lead actress dropped out and a replacement, Jessica Merigan, was brought in. Merigan and lead actor Bobby Ceriello, a student at the University of New Haven, quickly learned to work well together. “They’ve both been hitting their marks,” Hoerig said in February.
Grippi said Merigan is a model seeking to build a film career, while Ceriello has acted on stage in the past.
For Salsman, the most difficult days on set occur when shooting falls behind despite hours of grueling work. “It’s not a good feeling,” he said. On other days, the reverse is true. “The best feelings are when you finish a day ahead of schedule,” Salsman said.
Grippi said filming needed to be cancelled once due to wardrobe confusion, but that was really the only bad day they had. “We got up the next day, and [now] we’re even closer,” he said.
The chemistry on set is evident. A little bit after 9 p.m., cast and crew sat down for a dinner break. While eating their sandwiches and Wendy’s, they seemed to enjoy the downtime together.
“You become very familiar with people,” said cast member David Thomas McLaine from Waterbury, Conn. at the premier of the film’s teaser trailer in April. “I wish that I could keep shooting movies with these guys forever.”
Excellent chemistry was not a foregone conclusion since the film involved combining dozens of personalities across different age groups. It’s a necessity though, considering the complexity of their venture. “There’s bound to be arguments, and there’s bound to be disagreements,” Salsman said, emphasizing that any such problem needs to be immediately overcome.
Having fun is also vital for a group of mostly young people working for 19 hours on a Saturday night. “At the same time, [we have to] have fun because otherwise we would lose our sanity,” Hoerig said.
According to Salsman, some of the team went out together once. They tried unsuccessfully to avoid discussing “The Mercury Cycle.”
The enormity of their commitment to the movie has taken a toll on the personal lives of Grippi, Hoerig and Salsman. “I barely get any rest,” Grippi said. For all three, senior year has been different from their previous three years of college. “We don’t really have a senior year,” Salsman said, although he was quick to point out that he doesn’t regret it.
Hoerig emphasized that “The Mercury Cycle” has taken up a huge portion of his life. “It’s been hard, but in the end it’s worth it,” he said. “It’s definitely worth it.”
The project has been a learning experience for all involved. It’s stretched them to the limits of their psychological endurance. Grippi, Hoerig and Salsman are media production majors, as are many of those involved, and they have had an excellent opportunity to expand on classroom skills. Grippi pointed out that he has learned more from this film than classes alone could have ever taught him.
Simply, the project has been an adventure. “Overall, I’ve definitely had an awesome experience,” McLaine said.
According to Grippi, “The Mercury Cycle” represents a personal turning point. He said the responsibilities he has taken on, the lessons he has learned and the relationships he has formed have changed him completely. “This has been the most important year of my life,” Grippi said.
Principal photography is set to finish by May 23 though editing the final product will take longer. According to Grippi, the plan is to use film festivals to promote the “The Mercury Cycle” when it is completed. Gaining admission to the Sundance Film Festival would be ideal, but the team is considering a wide range of festivals. Blogs, Facebook and The Mercury Cycle are other potential marketing resources.
The movie will represent the culmination of the hard work of dozens. For Grippi, the movie that formed in his mind last summer will have come full circle. “We’re making a movie that we love the way we love to see it,” he said.
Alexandra Capotorto contributed reporting for this story.
5 comments
Glad all your hard work is being recoginzed and written about. You must be proud. Congrats!