Aspinwall author watches his novel jump from page to film
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For Aspinwall’s Philip Beard, a punctuating moment in an 18-year journey came when he and his daughter watched actress Sadie Sink of Netflix’s “Stranger Things” shoot a scene in Kennywood Park for a movie based on his novel, “Dear Zoe.”
“It’s surreal not only hearing my words coming from the actor’s mouth but seeing all of the trucks and equipment and people, food service and actors, all in service of this little story,” said Beard, 56.
Beard and his daughter, Cali Binstock, got to be extras in the film, which made it even more special, Beard added.
Local filming for the movie wrapped up last week after nearly a month, with primary locations in O’Hara, Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill and Braddock.
“Dear Zoe,” published in 2004, is about a teenage girl coming of age and dealing with the loss of her younger sister. Beard, an attorney and novelist, said it offers up tears and plenty of laughter.
“In the end, it’s about love and understanding how to accept love from one another,” he said.
To realize how much time has passed since Beard began writing “Dear Zoe,” the novel’s main character Tess was inspired by his daughter Cali when she was a teenager. Now 34, Binstock is married with two children of her own in Fox Chapel.
Beard’s 18-year journey didn’t start off spectacularly. He said he endured nearly 30 rejections from publishers and had already picked out the paper stock to self-publish the novel when Penguin Books took an interest. An Aspinwall connection, the late bookseller John Towle, had sent the manuscript to the New York publisher. Penguin published the hardback edition in 2004.
It took a few years for the book to be optioned into a feature film, and more time was spent finding directors and dealing with the typical starts and stops that movies encounter.
“It’s funny how things worked out,” Beard said. “The perfect Tess was worth waiting for, for sure.”
Brenda and Marc Lhormer of Sonoma, Calif., said they were looking for a second movie project when they were given Beard’s novel in 2008 by Carl Kurlander, a Pittsburgh-based Hollywood screenwriter and TV writer-producer.
The Lhormers produced “Bottle Shock,” a film about California vintners besting their French counterparts in a 1976 wine competition in Paris. The film premiered at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival and was distributed independently to theaters across the country. Beard liked the film and asked Kurlander to connect him with the Lhormers in his search for a movie producer.
“Reading ‘Dear Zoe,’ we immediately were drawn to the story and the characters and could visualize a film that would bring both entertainment and a lot of healing to millions of people,” said Marc Lhormer, a native Pittsburgher from the city’s Shadyside neighborhood.
The adapted screenplay was written by Lhormer and another Pittsburgh native, Melissa Martin, and directed by Gren Wells of “The Road Within.”
“The contrast between one family’s very personal tragedy with a history-changing event (the 9/11 attacks) on a national/global scale was fascinating for us,” Lhormer said.
The producers are in talks with potential distributors. Like “Bottle Shock,” the Lhormers are looking to premiere “Dear Zoe” at film festivals.
No strangers to film festivals, the Lhormers founded and produced the Napa Valley Film Festival from 2009 to 2018. Before that, they ran the Sonoma Valley Film Festival. Their production company is Zin Haze Productions LLC.
The movie could be released as early as fall 2020.