Big-screen treatment for schizophrenia
When Tufts University professor Richard Lerner was seated next to actor Joe Pantoliano at a college football game last fall, the two had a lively conversation about a topic important to both of them: mental illness.
Pantoliano, who starred in "The Sopranos" TV show, told Lerner, a child development specialist, about a film he had just produced and starred in that told the story of a family coping with schizophrenia. Lerner found himself enthralled, he said, and asked for a copy of the film, "Canvas."
That set the wheels in motion for a screening at Tufts last Sunday attended by more than 350 mental illness specialists, community leaders, students, and residents. Lerner arranged a 90-minute symposium about the leading developments in the field of mental health. The producers, in turn, got the chance to spread the word about the movie, which they hope will be purchased by a distribution company and released this fall.
The writer and director, Joseph Greco, watched his first feature film sitting on the floor in the back of the theater. The movie was inspired by his own life, growing up with a schizophrenic mother, he said, and was filmed in that other Hollywood -- the one in Florida -- where he grew up.
"It's like a love letter to my parents," Greco said. "I felt this was my way of sublimating what I had gone through. Every filmmaker has something they are passionate about, and for me, it's mental illness."
Greco, 34, said he was excited about the chance to show the independent film to some of the nation's leading mental health experts. It was one of a handful of screenings held since the film was completed in October.
Greco wrote the film about a family coping with the declining mental health of the mother, played by Marcia Gay Harden. Her son, played by 11-year-old Devon Gearhart, an Atlanta actor who also attended the screening, and her husband, played by Pantoliano, struggle as her condition worsens. Pantoliano's character begins building a boat in the backyard that he hopes the family can sail in together.
Producer Adam Hammel, a Brookline native who graduated from Emerson College, said he hopes the film raises awareness about schizophrenia and encourages insurance companies to recognize it as a disease.
Lerner, the Tufts professor, said the university wanted to be involved. "We want to be a good citizen, an active citizen with the community," he said.
He wants to stay involved in Pantoliano's efforts, which could include developing a research arm to the Creative Coalition, a policy advocacy association of the entertainment industry, of which Pantoliano is a copresident.
But more important, Lerner believed in the film. He said it presents an authentic view of "the realities of schizophrenia" and of its effect on the whole family. He also liked the film's message of hope. "It's just an incredible film," he said.
Lerner, 60, said he wants to stay involved in Pantoliano's efforts, which could include developing a research arm to the Creative Coalition, a policy advocacy association of the entertainment industry, of which Pantoliano is a copresident.
Pantoliano, whose 8-year-old daughter, Isabella, fluttered around him while he talked before the Jan. 28 screening, said mental illness was not a special interest of his when he started making "Canvas," but "it is now."
An informal poll of the cast, he said, revealed that nearly half had a direct connection to someone who has a mental illness. He said being involved in the film forced him to "look at some of my own problems," including severe depression. He hopes that the movie can help reduce the stigmatization of people with mental illness.
"We want to take this issue on," he said.
