FILMED IN WRIGLEYVILLE, LINCOLN PARK, MILLENNIUM PARK
By Peter von Buol
Special to Inside
Twelve years after they were first paired on-screen in the blockbuster hit "Speed," Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock will star in a romantic drama scheduled for release in February 2006.
The movie, which is tentatively titled "Il Mare," is set in Chicago and its suburbs. Unlike many Hollywood movies set in the city, it has actually been filmed entirely on location. City scenes were shot in Wrigleyville, Lincoln Park, Millennium Park and the South Loop. Shooting also took place in the suburb of Riverside and at the Maple Lake Woods Cook County Forest Preserve.
The movie, which has an international cast and is directed by Argentinean director Alejandro Agresti, provides an interesting twist to a time-travel romance. The lead characters, played by Reeves and Bullock, fall in love with one another after exchanging a series of romantic letters.
Unfortunately for the lead characters — both of whom have owned the same house —they are actually living two years apart and seem to be unable to find each other in the present! For most of the movie, when the two actors appear on screen together, they are not actually in the same year and therefore not really together. In one scene shot at Lincoln Park's Farm in the Zoo, Bullock and Reeves are sitting on park benches nearby but one of the characters is living in 2002 and the other is living in 2004.
Bullock's character, a medical doctor, is intrigued by love letters written by Reeves' character, a talented architect who has a difficult relationship with his father who also happens to be a famous architect. The Tony and Emmy award-winning actor Christopher Plummer appears as Reeves' father.
An important component to the story is an actual glass home that was built on Maple Lake in southern Cook County. The lake setting in the forest preserve is actually standing in for the North Shore.
"It was important to the director to build a livable house and not just a movie set," says film publicist Ernie Malik.
A modern glass house was built on forest preserve land and after production ends, the house is scheduled to be dismantled. Officials at the Cook County Forest Preserve District, however, indicate no decision has been made as to whether the house will be taken down and the district may yet decide to retain the structure.
Malik says the exterior of the 2,000 square foot glass house overlooking Maple Lake allowed interior scenes to be shot from the outside as well as the inside.
Both Reeves and Bullock have an affinity for Chicago. Reeves has starred in four movies that have been filmed in Chicago and Bullock has starred in two movies that have been filmed here.
In the original Korean version of "Il Mare," the pivotal house is named "Il Mare," but in the new motion picture, "Il Mare" is the name of the Park Grill in Millennium Park.
Malik says both actors enjoy working together but had been "waiting for the right script." |
