INDIANAPOLIS — The world premier of one of the movies at the Heartland Film Festival this week included a few faces familiar to the city of Indianapolis from an entirely different arena.
The movie is “Off The Record,” the directorial debut of stuntwoman Kirsten Foe, a film about a musician, Rainey Qualley, looking for her big break who falls into a romance that calls to mind “A Star Is Born,” except that her male counterpart, played by Ryan Hansen, is a predatory figure both romantically and professionally.
Colts owner Jim Irsay is the executive producer of “Off The Record.”
“His love and support for this project was endless,” Foe said. “This never would have happened without him.”
Foe, a stuntwoman with more than 30 credits to her name, wrote the movie, wanted to direct it herself and brought it to Irsay to get it made.
Irsay provided the backing Foe needed, and along the way, helped deliver a trio of actors who remain legendary figures in Indianapolis: Peyton Manning, Edgerrin James and Irsay himself in cameo roles.
Manning plays a commercial director, offering notes to Qualley’s character, Astor Grey, in a scene of comic relief.
The former quarterback is obviously no stranger to the camera.
“Peyton came in perfectly prepared, absolutely killed it,” Foe said. “He did make me nervous because he was running on set, and I was imagining ‘SportsCenter’ being like ‘Peyton Manning broke his leg today on a Hollywood film set,’ but yeah, he was fantastic. He did clean us out of fruit snacks; turns out he has a huge thing for fruit snacks.”
James made an appearance at a record label after a meeting for Grey; Irsay appears as a man fishing off a dock, joking that he’s hit it rich and suddenly has enough money to buy a football team.
Irsay could not be there on Thursday night.
He attended the NFL’s league meetings in Atlanta earlier this week, and after coming back to Indianapolis, Irsay wanted to rest in preparation for Colts tight end Dallas Clark’s induction into the Ring of Honor during Sunday’s game against the Dolphins.
But Irsay was there in spirit, sending a pre-recorded message of gratitude and belief in Foe, who wants to make a career transition from stuntwoman to working behind the camera, and found a business partner in Irsay.
“I’d love to be here tonight, but I’m just taking care of myself, knowing that there’s a big weekend in store,” Irsay said. “I’m so excited about ‘Off the Record.’”
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