Living the Lie article

Living it Up
Virginia native Jeff Wadlow returned to his home state to direct his feature film debut

Polly Roberts
Richmond.com
Tuesday November 18, 2003

Now we all know that Richmond is easy to love. But who knew the capital city was becoming one of the premier film locations in the country?

Voted one of the top 10 cities in North America for independent filmmakers in "MovieMaker Magazine," Richmond is making a name for itself in the industry.

Director Jeff Wadlow, winner of the 2002 Chrysler Million Dollar Film Festival, had no trouble selecting the University of Richmond as the setting for his feature film debut "Living the Lie."

"Have you seen it?" he asked. "It's amazing. It's one of the most beautiful campuses on the East Coast. Exactly what I pictured when I wrote the film."

Last month, Wadlow and his crew transformed UR into the fictional boarding school Westover Academy. They filmed the entire movie in 22 days, wrapping on Monday, Nov. 3.

"It was just an amazing experience," said Wadlow, who has since returned to Los Angeles. "I'm still sort of processing it all."

A Charlottesville native, he graduated from Dartmouth College and the University of Southern California film school. However, Wadlow wanted to return to his home state to shoot his first feature film.

"It actually kind of reminds me of why people originally went to L.A. for filming because it has the beach and the mountains . . . looking at Richmond, I sort of felt the same things," he said. "All of the [areas] are visually interesting and, combined with the warmth of the community, it makes it an ideal place to shoot a movie."

Wadlow said he used "tons" of extras and crew members from the Richmond area, saving $75,000 that he would have spent if the movie had been filmed in California.

"That's the way this movie got made ... everything was either a donation or a favor," he said. "Otherwise we just couldn't have made the movie."

Carla Shriner, assistant director of university events, said several scenes were shot on the Westhampton Green, in Ryland Hall and at the Modlin Center for the Arts.

"They loved the Modlin Center," she said. "They did one of their scenes in a hallway there. The architecture in that facility is absolutely [amazing] ... all of the exterior shots were shot here [on campus]. They liked the old-style architecture that is here."

Shriner said the student extras were thrilled to be part of the movie.

"If you're a theater major and interested in the industry, what a great thing to be a part of and put on your resume," Shriner said. "A lot of them were surprised how long it took to shoot a 30-second scene. But that's part of the learning process. They will probably be a lot more appreciative of what they see in the movies and on television."

Julian Morris (Royal Shakespeare Company, "Young Arthur," upcoming "WhirlyGirl"), Lindy Booth ("Dawn of the Dead") and Jared Padalecki ("The Gilmore Girls," upcoming "New York Minute" and "Flight of the Phoenix") will star in "Living the Lie."

Jon Bon Jovi even had a role in the movie as a teacher.

"Bon Jovi was here and a lot of people got excited when they heard that," Shriner said. "He was a very personable person, not the least bit pretentious, and he got to be friends with the crew."

"Living the Lie" is a psychological thriller that focuses on a group of precocious boarding school seniors who spend their free time playing a mysterious game of lies. But when a transfer student falls for the group's leader, he accepts her invitation to join their secret society.

When the lies become personal, the worlds of fiction and reality crash together with disastrous ramifications. Ultimately, the movie is a modern day retelling of "the boy who cried wolf" that proves nobody believes a liar, even when he is telling the truth.

"Jeff's got a slick script, a young, hip Hitchcock kind of thriller," said Andrew Edmunds, location manager for the Virginia Film Office. "And it's got a nice twist at the end that I think people will be talking about."

Wadlow contacted Edmunds about a year ago when he began scouting locations for his film, which he was able to create with a $1 million grant from Chrysler. Hypnotic produced "Living the Lie," and Universal Pictures will ultimately decide when and where the movie will be released.

"I saw some of the dailies and I thought it looked very good," Edmunds said. "The quality of the filming, the lighting, the cinematography, looked great. I know Jeff had a clear vision of what he wanted it to look like. I think that he's got a very, very bright promising future ahead of him."


Be sure to check out Richmond on the small screen in an episode of the ABC television series "Line of Fire" on Tuesday, Dec. 2, at 10 p.m. Also look for Virginia in the upcoming Civil War epic "Cold Mountain," starring Jude Law and Nicole Kidman. Several of the movie's scenes were filmed in Williamsburg and on Belle Isle.

nice! I wonder if jon has more than 5 minutes in the film lol but he's got for publicity