Alexandra Dowling plays Aisling in the new movie ‘Starbright.’
A Hollywood director is coming home to Fort Macleod this month to hold the Canadian premiere of his latest big budget film at the Empress Theatre.
Francesco Lucente, along with cast and crew members, will host the premiere of Starbright at the historic theatre on Saturday, March 21.
“I remember as a kid going to many movies at the Empress and it holds a lot of fond memories for me,” Lucente said.
The screening of Starbright, which Lucente described as a fairytale meets crime thriller, is open to the public.
Following the movie, there will be a question and answer period with Lucente and his cast and crew members who are able to attend.
Lucente lived in Fort Macleod while his parents were the owners of the American Hotel and the Queen’s Hotel in the mid 1970s.
“I really enjoyed my time there,” said Lucente, who has fond memories of exploring the two historic hotels, tubing on the Oldman River, and watching movies at the Empress.
Lucente made his debut as a producer, director, screenwriter, cinematographer and editor with the short film, This Old Man, followed by two more short films, Cloak and Dagger and Paint It Black in 1978.
Lucente’s first motion picture, for which he wrote the screenplay and produced, edited and directed, was the 1987 comedy The Virgin Queen of St. Francis High which went on to gross more than $10 million.
Lucente produced, edited and directed the 1995 drama The Inner Voice, which was nominated for best picture at the Henri Langlois Film and Television Festival in Tours, France.
Lucente was also nominated for best screenplay in the King Arthur Screenwriters Award competition for the screenplay Frontline.
He also co-wrote the comedy screenplay 2001: A Space Travesty for actor Leslie Nielsen.
Lucente said he knew from the time he was eight years old that he wanted to make movies.
“I think when I was about 10 years old, my uncle bought a Super 8 camera and that’s when I started,” Lucente said. “I shot a bunch of stuff in Fort Macleod, actually.”
“And during that time period I shot my first short film (This Old Man) and from there one thing led to another an I just kept at it.”
Lucente filmed scenes from Badland in 2005 in Fort Macleod.
Starbright was filmed mainly in the United States and Italy, with some scenes filmed in Calgary.
According to the Starbright Web site, during a rare eclipse and planetary alignment, a lonely young woman’s whispered wish collides with the plans of an heir, an angel, and three desperate criminals.
Alexandra Dowling plays Aisling, a young woman living on her grandparents’ farm deeply affected by the trauma of an accident that killed her parents.
Aisling asks for the courage to live her own life, and her wish is answered when a living star crashes into a wheat field and the Archangel Raphael (John Rhys-Davies) appears and gives her a tiny celestial wishing star.
The scene is witnessed by hardened ex-con Peter (Gbenga Akinnagbe) on the run with his partners Martin (Tom Carey) and Nick (John Westley).
When they see the star’s power turn scrap metal into gold, Aisling becomes the target of their next score.
Other cast members include Diego Boneta, Elisabeth Röhm, and Christine Ebersole.
“Starbright is a romantic, family-friendly fantasy that blends car chases, sword fights and outlaw mayhem with magical realism and deeply felt emotion,” the Web site reads. “It’s a story about grief and second chances, about the courage it takes to leave home, and the miracle that can happen when you choose love over fear.”
Starbright got strong reviews at its test screenings.
“Somebody said it was like Cinderella meets Men Streets,” Lucente said. “It cost $40 million but the guys at Paramount say it looks like a $70 million movie, so that’s a good comment.”
Lucente said Starbright had its genesis in 1986 when he was sitting at a picnic table in Calgary. He started writing early drafts then.
“It’s an unusual story, like I said, because it’s fairy tale-slash-crime thriller,” Lucente said. “It has a really good message, I believe, for what we’re all going through at this time. And that’s kind of what drove me, what the impetus was. The next films I’m doing are very, very different from this.”
Lucente drives whenever he comes to southern Alberta in order to enjoy the landscape, stopping overnight at the Mackenzie House in Fort Macleod.
“There is a great energy there,” said Lucente, who hopes people he knew as a teenager in Fort Macleod will attend the premiere to renew acquaintances. “That’s why I like going back.”
