Beverly Writer's Film 'Not A Stranger' Brings Hollywood to the Neighborhood

'Not A Stranger' featuring James Russo and Beverly writer Dennis Foley.

Chicago, IL, May 11, 2016 -- Dennis Foley is eating lunch between lawyering real estate closings and his son’s lacrosse game when he is hit up for his interview on his latest project -- Not A Stranger -- a film that stars some veteran Hollywood character actors and talented local kids, a few Chicago cops, and the Beverly, Mt. Greenwood and Evergreen Park neighborhoods.

The Beverly writer’s 2012 novel, “The Drunkard’s Son,” an 85-percent autobiographical novel of growing up in the 1960s and 1970s on the South Side as the son of an alcoholic father, Foley says Not A Stranger “isn’t really based on anything” except for what ifs?

• Related: Beverly Writer Remembers Being 'The Drunkard's Son'

What if three 12-year-old baseball fanatic boys befriend a 55-year-old, broken down former high school teacher and with a dark secret and help him regain his life?

“It’s a nice little neighborhood movie,” Foley says. “It features the local area and tells a good store about hope just when you don’t think anything’s coming your way.”

Not A Stranger will have it’s world premiere screening, so to speak, June 10, June 11 and June 18 at the Beverly Arts Center. Opening night is already “¾ sold out,” and screenings for the next two nights are half full.

“It’s going to be a neighborhood event,” Foley says. “We’ll have a band start off the evening with a few songs, the roll into the movie. Following the movie there will be a q&a with myself, some of the actors and director. Then we’ll roll into the lobby with a reception and cash bar.”

Foley’s lived in Beverly for the past 25 years with his wife, Susan, and two sons. As a kid he batted around St. Sabina Parish as his parents moved multiple times with the same few blocks, until breaking free for the suburbs in Hometown, where he attended St. Laurence High School and got stabbed at 15 during a fight in Marquette Park.

After “The Drunkard’s Son,” Foley tried his hand in the crazy business of screenwriting. His first screenplay, The Blue Circus, won an award in the Beverly Hills (CA) Film Festival, although it never got made.

Veteran Hollywood character actor, James Russo,directs and stars in the teacher’s role of Old Bob, a 55-year-old man who finds his world shrinking as friends drop away and social contacts are few.

Russo (Django Unchained, Donnie Brasco, Once Upon a Time in America) brought in Melora Walters (Cold Mountain, Boogie Nights, The Butterly Effect), Charlene Amoia (How I Met Your Mother) and RD Call (Waterworld, State of Grace, Born on the 4th of July).

Rounding out the trio of 12-year-old friends are John Babbo (Chicago Fire), of Oak Park; Mesiyah Oduro, of Glenwood, and St. Barnabas eighth-grader Matt McGuire .

The Hollywood character actors fell in love with Foley’s script and the chance to play lead roles. They also loved the neighborhood, which they described as a “snow globe,” all encapsulated in one space.

When the boys befriend the former teacher, complications arise when police suspect Old Bob of wrongdoing.

The film was shot over 17 days last summer. It features such familiar locales as Ellie’s Cafe, Janson’s Drive-In, Mt. Greenwood Cemetery, St. Barnabas Church, Vito and Nick’s, and the Evergreen Park police station.

“The Evergreen Park Police Department was a godsend,” Foley laughs. “Try putting a movie together where you can shoot scenes inside a police station. We were overwhelmed by people’s support in the neighborhood who let us come into their businesses to film at odd hours.”

Screenings for Not A Stranger start at 7:30 p.m. June 10, June 11 and June 18 at the Beverly Arts Center, 2407 W. 111th St., Chicago. Tickets are $12 for BAC members and $15 for non-members and can be purchased online.