A rock band consisting almost entirely of Local 476 members will gig Saturday night at the Cobra Lounge as part of a preproduction event for the feature-length gangster vampire thriller, “Blood Money,” which is set to begin shooting this summer.
“We put together a film industry band named ‘The 476’ers,’”explains Tim Armstrong, a Local 476 video assist operator, musician and singer who will play bass and provide backup vocals for the show. “My band, Uptown Shakedown, is opening.”
Other industry band members include Chicago Med gaffer Mark Castelaz on vocals and guitar, Compass Casting owner Sara Clark on vocals, and APB sound mixer Mario Coletta on drums. Music teacher and Uptown Shakedown guitarist Sean Godvik will join Amstrong on backing vocals.
The performances will complement the public screening of the trailer for “Blood Money,” which Armstrong directed in the lot of Chicago Studio City and the office of GigRig Chicago last spring.
The 60-second mix of urban crime, fine art, sultry supernaturalism, and a giant fireball represents Armstrong’s directorial debut. He’ll cut his feature-length chops when the film goes into production this summer.
But first, he hopes to raise the $1.3 to $2 million budget to get the cast he wants through crowd-funding efforts and select extravaganzas like the one tomorrow night at Cobra Lounge, where the music will be enhanced with visuals inspired by Louis Childress’ screenplay.
Besides weaving a vein of ancient vampiricalism into modern-day Chicago, the “Blood Money” script introduces a group of bloodsuckers who overwhelm an organized crime outfit that has been laundering money through an art gallery. A vampire extermination team and an unsuspecting journalism student also get caught up in the action.
“We’re gonna have a magician doing gothic magic and we’re gonna have as many cast members as possible in their costumes at the event,” Armstrong says. “Swords, guns, whatever their character wardrobe is.”
The costumes in the trailer were designed by Laura Darner. Other credits include editing by Periscope, music by Rob “Diggy” Morrison, production design by Ricardo Candia. Director of photography was Tom Cicura. Louis Childress produced.
The fun begins at 7 p.m. on Saturday February 18 at the Cobra Lounge, 235 N. Ashland Ave. For tickets ($10) and additional information, click here.
