A movie still of Keith Kupferer and Dolly de Leon in Ghostlight, which is screening at the Gene Siskel on Dec. 23 and 28, 2024 and is available on select streaming services. (Courtesy of Luke Dyra and IFC Films)
When Chicago-based director Kelly O’Sullivan, a self-described “theater kid at heart,” wrote the feature film “Ghostlight,” she said she wanted to explore a theater stage as a place where people can deal with their darkest emotions.
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“Where you can deal with things that society at-large encourages you to keep private,” O’Sullivan said. “Theater celebrates the good, the bad, and the ugly parts of you.”
“Ghostlight” premiered at the Sundance Film Festival early this year. It was later released in theaters nationwide this summer after being picked up by IFC Films. The movie is returning to theaters next week with screenings at the Gene Siskel Film Center on Dec. 23 and 28.
The movie and its cast members have recently been nominated for several awards, including two Film Independent Spirit Awards: best feature under $1 million and best lead performance for Chicago stage veteran Keith Kupferer’s role as Dan in the film.
In “Ghostlight,” an unlikely and emotionally troubled father Dan, played by Kupferer, finds himself in a local theater’s production of Romeo and Juliet, amid dealing with a family crisis.
Similar to their 2019 film, “Saint Frances,” Chicago-based directors Kelly O’Sullivan and Alex Thompson filmed “Ghostlight” in the Chicago area, specifically in Waukegan, Highwood, Highland Park and Lincolnwood.
“It couldn’t be filmed in Chicago because the Chicago theater landscape is actually so rich and so vast,” O’Sullivan said. “We wanted it to be a little outside of Chicago, so that the community theater could feel a little more scrappy.”
Inner turmoil and vulnerability take center stage, quite literally, as Dan navigates his relationships with his wife Sharon, played by another local stage veteran and Rivendell Theatre Ensemble founder Tara Mallen, and his daughter Daisy, played by Katherine Mallen Kupferer.
If their last names didn’t already give it away, the family members depicted in the film are also a real-life family, which Kupferer said made for a more natural and authentic performance.
When asked about what it’s like being in a theater family, Kupferer, laughing, said, “There’s never a dull moment.”
Directors Kelly O’Sullivan, left, and Alex Thompson, middle, on the set of Ghostlight. (Courtesy of Drew Tieng and IFC Films)
O’Sullivan said she wrote “Ghostlight” with Kupferer in mind to play the lead after having performed with him in a 2014 local theater production of “The Humans.” The movie is Kupferer’s first leading role in a feature film.
“I don’t generally like to watch myself, but I think because my family was also in it, it was easier for me to watch it,” Kupferer said, who’s originally from the East Coast. “There was a certain amount of ease that I started to watch it with because I was with my family and a lot of the folks in it were friends of mine, also, who were actors.”
Kupferer said that while movies can be deeply personal, he said he hopes “Ghostlight” reminds audience members about the importance of independent films.
“I hope that people come away saying, films can still be made like this, that they don’t have to have Marvel characters or these giant AI effects,” Kupferer said. “That stories can be told on a very simple and human scale.”
O’Sullivan, who is originally from Arkansas and attended Northwestern, and Thompson, who is originally from Kentucky and attended DePaul, are now working on their upcoming film, “Mouse,” which was filmed in Arkansas.
A movie still of Keith Kupferer, right, Katherine Mallen Kupferer, center, and Tara Mallen in Ghostlight. (Courtesy of IFC Films)
Contact Eunice Alpasan: @eunicealpasan | 773-509-5362 | [email protected]
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