How are these six Hollywood celebs connected to this Bradford grad?
Shooting for the stars
Internship gives NIU alumnus chance to learn moviemaking from the pros
BY BILL ROBBINS brobbins@kenoshanews.com
There’s so many luminaries she needs sunglasses. Becca Berry is spending her summer working alongside people like Anthony Hopkins, Christian Slater, John Goodman and Robert Katz, who produced the Oscar-winning film “Crash.” She’s surrounded by celebrities as she serves an internship on the set of an inproduction movie titled, “Slipstream.” Hopkins wrote the script and is directing and co-producing the movie — along with Katz — as well as starring in it. “We’re in the desert,” Berry told the Kenosha News last week in a telephone interview from California. “We’re somewhere in Death Valley and it’s between 105 and 110 degrees, and I like it.” Becca, 21, a Kenoshan and Bradford High School graduate, is one of six Northern Illinois University communication majors selected to work as interns for five weeks on the movie set. Katz is an NIU alumnus who, along with Laura Vasquez, a communication professor at the school, created the internship this year. “It’s an amazing experience,” said Berry, who plans a career in the film industry as a cinematographer or director. “It would have taken years to meet people like this.” Said Vasquez: “The students are learning practical aspects of filmmaking, such as the responsibilities of a producer, director and other crew members. They are finding out just what it takes to make a movie look like it does.” Berry is learning a lot on the set of the film, which is shooting in Los Angeles and the California desert. During the first week, she worked in pre-production. In the second week, she worked with the sound crew, performing tasks like holding a boom mike and mixing sound. Last week she assisted the “digital imaging technician.” “That’s a new position because they’re filming the movie using high-definition (HD) Genesis cameras,” Berry said. “The DIT makes sure the digital imaging is correct and working properly. So I’m right at the center of things when they’re filming scenes. I couldn’t have picked a better position. I’m right there.” And she’s thrilled to work near Oscarnominated cinematographer Dante Spinotti, who was her inspiration to go into filmmaking. “He did ‘Beaches’ which is one of my
favorite movies,” Berry said. “That got me interested in film in the first place.” David Ronne, a leading Hollywood sound engineer, is the DIT, and he serves as Spinotti’s assistant. “So I’ve been sitting with David and Dante and watching the exposure of the HD camera,” she said. “I sit next to them all day long, and David and I watch the image and make sure it’s what would Mr. Spinotti would like.” It’s an exciting time to be making movies, she said. “They’re in that transition to HD, and it’s great to be seeing what the HD cameras are doing and seeing everyone getting a feel for them and trying new things. It’s really kind of cool. It’s the kind of stuff you don’t learn in textbooks.” Berry said Hopkins and others have been tremendously supportive and helpful. “Anthony, Dante and David are just the sweetest people, and they have all this experience,” she said. “They could simply not talk to me and not share their knowledge, but they’ve really helped me out and taught me things on set. They take time to explain things.” According to an NIU news release, “Slipstream” is a noir comedy about an actor and would-be screenwriter who, at the very moment of meeting his ultimate fate, comes to discover that life is random and he is thrown into a vortex where time, dreams and reality collide. Other members of the ensemble cast include John Turturro, Michael Clark Duncan, Camryn Manheim, Jeffrey Tambor, S. Epatha Merkerson, Fionnula Flanagan, Christopher Lawford, Stella Arroyave, Lisa Pepper, Kevin McCarthy, Gavin Grazer, Aaron Tucker and Lana Antonva. Berry became interested in movies at age 14 when she worked on the Kenosha-filmed flick “Smokers.” “I was an extra, and I saw everything behind the scenes, and I thought that’s where it’s at,” she said. “It’s not in front of the camera.” It’s fascinating to see how Hopkins’ script comes to life on the set, she said. “His script is very detailed on what kinds of shots he wanted and it’s amazing to see how it’s played out. This is really a oncein-a-lifetime opportunity.”
