Jessica Petelle says she still feels like the small town, Midwestern girl who grew up in Churubusco. In spite of the fact that the Churubusco High School and Indiana University graduate is now a full time film and new media producer who occupies a home in Hollywood, Los Angeles.
Petelle is back in the Midwest to promote the premiere of her second film, Little Big Top in Peru, Ind. Friday night.
The movie - a dark comedy about an aging clown - will premiere at 7 p.m., Aug. 29 at Kerasotes Eastwood Cinema in the Circus Capital of the World, where Petelle spent several months during the summer of 2006 filming.
Written and directed by Peru native Ward Roberts, and starring movie icon Sid Haig and Jacob Zachar of ABC Family’s GREEK, “Little Big Top” is the first feature film shot in the world famous Peru Amateur Circus facility.
Petelle has a good feeling about the film. It was the official selection of the 2006 Heartland Film Festival in Indianapolis. It was there that the filmmakers met Elliott Kotek of Moving Pictures Magazine who liked the movie and spoke to Ted Chalmers of Maitland Primrose Film Distribution, a sister company to Moving Pictures Film and Television LTD in Arizona. Chalmers and his associates liked the film and a deal was struck.
“He saw it and he ‘got’ it,” Petelle said. “Ted has an incredible track record and I was very confident” of placing the film in his hands.
“Joshua,” Petelle’s first movie released in 2005 was a horror film. “Little Big Top” is a black comedy about an aging, out of work clown who returns to his small hometown, resigned to spend the rest of his days in a drunken stupor. But when his passion for clowning is reawakened by the local amateur circus, he finds his smile.
“He goes back to his hometown to retire and fade away,” Petelle explained. “But when the director of a local circus finds out he is back in town, he asks him to come and train his clowns, most of whom are just not funny.”
Sid Haig, as Seymour Smiles, takes the gig only to support his frequent alcoholic binges. But along the way, he discovers himself along with a new zest for life.
“It’s a beautiful story of redemption,” Petelle said, “and shows how it is never too late to do something just for the pure joy and love of doing it.”Petelle produced the film with Christina Mauro, and ironically - the production designer (in charge of sets) was Amy Montgomery, the girlfriend of Nathan May - another Churubusco High School graduate who now works in the film industry in Los Angeles.
“Amy had family in Peru, so she really enjoyed working on the sets,” Petelle said.
In another amazing coincidence, Montgomery discovered after reading the script that one of the main characters was named Aggie. Since Aggie is was such an unusual name and it was also her sister’s name, Montgomery could not help but ask scriptwriter Ward Roberts, also a Peru native, how he came to use that name.
He told her that a family with two small girls had come to visit the circus many years ago with their family and he remembered that Aggie and her sister, Amy, had been very inquisitive. Montgomery and Roberts were amazed to discover they were once again face to face. The name Aggie, he said, had stuck with him all those years and he used it when he wrote the script.
One of the lead characters, Bob the circus director, is played by Richard Riehle, a well-known character actor who played the judge in Fried Green Tomatoes and also appeared in Office Space.
As a producer, Petelle’s responsibities range from developing the script to raising money to hiring the crew to engaging the actors to following the post-production and setting up the deals and creating the publicity.
During production, Petelle said she is totally immersed and her life revolves around the making of the film.
“It consumed me and then we were done I went back to Los Angeles,” Petelle said.
“Now, it’s been three years and it’s just coming out on the streets.”
It becomes a question of patience, faith and will,” she said, “but it’s very exciting.”
The movie will play in Peru daily for a week following the premiere. It will premiere in Los Angeles the week of October 31.
The film will be released on DVD soon after that and Petelle says she hopes to set up some kind of premiere screening in Churubusco in November.
Petelle said if she had her way, she would shoot every movie in Indiana.
“The traditional Midwestern values and the friendliness of people in the Midwest just comes through,” Petelle said. “Even in the movies.”
For more on Little Big Top go to littlebigtopmovie.com/news or imdb.com/title/tt0469690/.
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