Ghostlight, Kelly O’Sullivan and Alex Thompson’s new feature premiering at the Sundance film festival, traffics in a similar leveling of mundanity and insight. (It’s also written by O’Sullivan.) There’s an appealing naturalness to the project, probably owing to its tight-knit origins: O’Sullivan and Thompson are real-life partners directing a real-life family in their city, Chicago.
Dan Mueller (Keith Kupferer) is an emotionally bottled construction worker, all slumped shoulders and soft mumblings, except for the few moments he bursts forth with startling rage. He’s distant from wife Sharon (Kupferer’s wife Tara Mallen), an elementary school music teacher seeking to reconnect.
Neither know how to handle Daisy (their daughter Katherine Mallen Kupferer, bristling with talent), a high-schooler with a near-terminal case of teenage nightmare syndrome. It’s often funny, how easily Daisy can escalate and derail a moment, until O’Sullivan’s finely tuned script and Mallen Kupferer’s hot-blooded performance reveal just how derailed she is.
Ghostlight is a 2024 American drama film, directed by Kelly O’Sullivan and Alex Thompson, from a screenplay by O’Sullivan. It stars Keith Kupferer, Dolly de Leon, Katherine May Kupferer, Tara Mallen, Hana Dworkin, Tommy Rivera-Vega, Alma Washington, H.B. Ward, Dexter Zollicoffer, Deanna Dunagan and Francis Guinan. It had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 18, 2024. It was released by IFC Films and Sapan Studio on June 14, 2024.
About the Story
Construction worker Dan Mueller struggles with the disciplinary problems of his teenage daughter Daisy and the wrongful death lawsuit he is filing against Christine Hawthrone, the ex-girlfriend of his son Brian, who committed suicide. The stress causes him to assault a rude motorist on the job, which is witnessed by Rita, an actor at a community theater across the street. She invites him in to read for Lord Capulet in their upcoming production of Romeo and Juliet.
He begins soliciting advice from Daisy, a former actor who has lost her interest in theater, but things grow tense when his wife Sharon, a teacher and theater director at the local school, tries to build a garden over the site of Brian’s suicide in their yard and he erupts at Daisy for walking over it. He returns to the theater, where he witnesses Rita, playing Juliet, strike the actor playing Romeo when he claims she is too old for the part. After witnessing Romeo and Juliet’s suicide being acted out, he tells the cast about Brian’s death, and Daisy and Sharon witness Rita embracing him outside the theater.
While Dan commits more time to the production and is cast as Romeo, he is put on mandatory leave at his job and lies to his family about his whereabouts. Daisy follows him to the theater, discovers the truth, and quickly bonds with the cast. When they arrive home, Sharon, having learned from Dan’s coworker that he is on leave, accuses him of infidelity, forcing him to admit the truth. Moved by his talent, Sharon allows the cast to perform in the school’s gym, and they decide to make the play a one night event with Daisy cast as Mercutio.
Ghostlight (2024)
Directed by: Kelly O’Sullivan, Alex Thompson
Starring: Keith Kupferer, Katherine Mallen Kupferer, Tara Mallen, Dolly De Leon, Hanna Dworkin, Dexter Zollicoffer, Tommy Rivera-Vega, Alma Washington, Lia Cubilete, Marlene Slaughter
Screenplay by: Kelly O’Sullivan
Production Design by: Linda Lee
Cinematography by: Luke Dyra
Film Editing by: Michael Spencer Smith
Costume Design by: Michelle Bradley
Art Direction by: Pavit Gandhi, Anna Kotecki, Amanda Mutai
Music by: Quinn Tsan
MPAA Rating: R for language.
Distributed by: IFC Films
Release Date: June 21, 2024
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