NewsNational News

Actions

Indie film maker planning movie based on Newtown shooting

Posted at 10:46 PM, Feb 04, 2013
and last updated 2013-02-05 00:28:39-05

NEWTOWN, Conn. - A film crew was in Ridgefield, Connecticut Monday scouting out locations for a new movie inspired by the Newtown school shooting.

No matter how many times the story is retold, the effect is always the same.

“It was a tragedy beyond description,” David Purcell, CFO of Demian Pictures, says.

He and his team were at veterans park elementary school in Ridgefield preparing to make a made-for-television movie related to the Newtown massacre.

“I think we want to tell a beautiful gripping story about a family's struggle,” Carina Rush, producer of the films says.

While the film's plot is still a secret, Rush says the family it revolves around lives in a scenic Connecticut town.

“What happens to them is kind of triggered by the Newtown story,” Rush says.

For director Jonathan Bucari who says mental illness runs in his family the Newtown story inspired a fundamental question.

“Why today with everything we have at our disposal to prevent that kind of tragedy we weren't able to prevent it,” Bucari says.

The team says the movie, simply entitled "Illness," will answer that question by focusing on the massacre's underlying cause.

“We really need to get at the issue of mental illness,” Purcell says.

They say it's a not-for-profit effort designed to keep this from happening ever again.

“It's something that touches you so deeply that you can't even speak when you find out about it,” Rush says.