Shooting Film in the Third Ward

Milwaukee native Michael Nehs is coming home to make a movie. The president of Chicago's Frontsight Productions is filming his next picture, Blue World, in his hometown. The cameras are set to begin rolling in May. Blue World is based on the 1990 novella by veteran author Robert McCammon, whose credits include several “Twilight Zone” episodes.

“It was the first option I went after,” Nehs says of the story. ‘I spoke to the author directly, tracking him down through contacts—the usual six degrees of separation.” It's not Nehs‚ first movie. Previously, he served as a producer for Almost Salinas (2002), starring John Mahoney, and Heavens Fall (2006), with Timothy Hutton and David Strathairn. Casting is underway for Blue World but first time feature director Charlie Rivkin, whose previous work included several imaginative short subjects, has been tapped to helm the project.

The story concerns a woman, a porn star, whose colleagues are being relentlessly murdered by a seriel killer known as the Stranger. She turns to a Roman Catholic priest for consolation. He becomes her comrade in danger. “He turns out to be a real friend,” Nehs adds. McCammon's story was set in San Francisco. “We're moving it to a non-descript, unidentified location,” Nehs says. “We've updated the language and made the Stranger more ominous.”

Blue World will be among the first feature films to take advantage of Wisconsin's new package of tax incentives for moviemaking. “We‚ve already done preliminary scouting for locations,” Nehs says. “We're going to film in the Third Ward and elsewhere. I want to use as much Milwaukee crew, as many Milwaukee hires, as possible.”