NEWPORT, R.I. – A feature-length film about Newport, R.I. during the Gilded Age will begin production in June, according to the executive producing team that will announce the project during a press conference on Friday, Jan. 18 at 2 p.m. in the state dining room of historic Ochre Court, 100 Ochre Point Ave. on the campus of Salve Regina University.
The film, “Bellevue Avenue,” will mix suspense, compassion and compelling characters to illustrate a world of ethical and social disarray, says Ken Dooley, screenwriter and executive producer. Dooley, a Cranston native, wrote “The Murder Trial of John Gordon,” and “The Auerbach Dynasty,” among many others.
The film will be directed by Emmy-nominated Andy Lauer, who has worked under the direction of Oliver Stone and Michael Bay (Armageddon, Pearl Harbor) and David Fincher (Fight Club, Alien), and many others. Eric Lutes, an acclaimed TV and film actor, will serve as both actor and producer. Rhode Island native Arlene Violet, the first female attorney general in the United States, is also a producer.
Filming locations will include several Salve Regina University properties, as well as other Newport sites such as Fort Adams State Park, the Malbone Estate, the Old Colony & Newport Railway, Rough Point, Bellevue Avenue and others.
Casting will be under the direction of Anne Mulhall of LDI Casting, Rhode Island’s largest casting agency. Marilyn Salvatore is costume designer. She has costume designed for over 80 productions for Trinity/Brown as well as for television and film.
For a quarter of a century, Bellevue Avenue was the favorite playground of the rich and royal, where European princes came to visit the marble “cottages” of their American counterparts - the captains of American industry and finance and their wives. But what was Newport really like behind those baronial iron gates? “Bellevue Avenue” asks and answers that question, probing into the social and financial intrigues that lay behind the dazzling facade.
At Friday’s press conference, media will have access to the film’s director, executive producer and producers, costume designer and casting director, among others.