Last but not least
On the set of "The Last Adam"

By Martin Kelley
Editor-In-Chief

Director Ed Banuel directs his troops. (photo: Martin Kelley)

It's late autumn, but in Georgia it's not supposed to be this windy. It wasn't until the day I visited the set of The Last Adam. Director Ed Banuel sits in the yard of a nice home in the Kirkwood area that will play the home of the title character in the film.

I arrive early to find a CNN crew documenting the activity. I slide around the set trying to stay unnoticed and take in the flow of the production as a fly on the wall.

It doesn't work long as I'm greeted by Banuel and producer Shandra McDonald, who immediately get me indoors for a chat with one of the actors in the film, multiple-gold-medal-winning former track and field star Carl Lewis. Lewis brings his Olympic champion enthusiasm and work ethic to the acting game, and impressed the filmmakers highly. He's more than willing to speak with us about his new passion for acting as well as his experience on The Last Adam (see sidebar).

I'm able to speak with McDonald shortly after, and ask her how it's all coming together.

"Everything has been going really well," she offers. "We'd been blessed with good weather up until today—it's freezing.

"It's just been a labor of love for us...we've learned a lot and we've gotten wonderful footage thus far. We're real excited because it's all come together in such a short time."

Producer Shandra McDonald, actor Carl Lewis and director Ed Banuel watch the footage on set. (photo: The Film Collective)

McDonald, an experienced producer, has worked on a couple films with Banuel already. She produced Land of the Free, which aired on Showtime, and recently co-produced A Message From Pops, the recipient of the IFP Gordon Parks Award for 2005.

Her experience as a producer also includes 2002's Vivian, which won first place in the Roxbury Film Festival that year and honorable mention for best film at the Pan African Film Festival the next. Can't Let Go, a short film McDonald directed, wrote and co-produced in Los Angeles, aired on UPN, NBC and ABC in over 100 markets across the country. She is not only the producer on The Last Adam but is also the co-writer along with Erroll Bailey.

The Last Adam tells the story of six racially-diverse childhood friends who are forced to revisit their painful pasts when they return to their hometown in the deep South to plan the funeral of their beloved little league coach and mentor. The project was the recipient of the 2005 Atlanta Film Festival's Southeastern Media Award.

McDonald is quick to praise the cast. "We've got some great actors and that's really making a difference," she says.

The talented cast features, in addition to Lewis, Leonard Roberts (Drumline, Buffy The Vampire Slayer) in the lead role of Bobby Jackson, and Tony Award-nominated actress Anita Gillette (Shall We Dance, Moonstruck) as Betty Adams. The rest of the talented cast includes Jose Yenque (Traffic), and Corinne de Groot, winner of the reality TV show The Next Action Star. Karla Droege and Ted Huckabee, familiar and well-regarded faces on the Atlanta indie film scene, are part of the ensemble cast as well.

DP Parrish Smith (seated) readies his next take with the help of his crew. (photo: Martin Kelley)

I asked Banuel how his experience differs on the set of his first feature from his past experiences on several short films.

"The whole process has been one of discovery," he says. "You read the script and you envision it one way, but when you actually get out on the set and work with the actors and crew it all comes to life

"It's like layers and layers of intersections that lead to one big highway. The one big thing I've learned is that you have to be open minded and let things take shape."

As I am about to leave, Anita Gillette sings out some dialogue against the wind. The scene feels right to Ed, so they move on.

The Last Adam looks to be turning out very well, and we wish them good luck with the rest of the shoot.

Martin Kelley is a local screenwriter and filmmaker who co-founded and became co-president of the Atlanta Screenwriters Group, one of the largest screenwriter organizations in the Southeast. Martin's screenwriting credits include "Loaded Dice," "Behind the Nine" (Echelon Entertainment) and "Vicious" (M.T.I. Home Entertainment).

CATCHING UP WITH CARL LEWIS

Carl Lewis has reached the pinnacle of success as an Olympic Athlete. He won nine gold medals, including perhaps his most dramatic here in Atlanta in 1996 for the long jump. But he's pursuing a new dream now—acting. He's been training for years, even while competing on the world's athletic stage. Complete with an agent in Atlanta, Carl found a part in an ensemble cast for the drama The Last Adam. CinemATL.com caught up with him on the set:

How long have you been acting?

I guess that I started around 2000 but I've been studying for a long time. Even when I was competing, I was studying. I knew that it was what I wanted to do when I retired from athletics so it just took time in getting that first little role and building a little bit off of that, and now I'm starting to get some meaty roles. I did a film two years ago that was on Sci-Fi Channel, that was my first big one, and I shot one last year that will be out this year and now, of course, The Last Adam. Now I'm starting to get some work, it just took some time to build it because there were a lot of things that I was offered that were not...they were like, "Oh, okay, a runner part," but I was like, "I want to be an actor." I didn't just want to be somebody running across the screen...and coming from an Olympic sport is different than, say, pro athletes. A pro player is more likely to be given a shot where an Olympic athlete isn't thought of in that way, so it's taken more time for me but things are starting to come around now.

What's the difference between training as an actor versus as an athlete?

Well, it's easier to tell the similarities. Focus, discipline, and keeping your mind in it all the time. You can't just go in and then go home and leave it. You have to think about it. And like when I leave class I keep it with me, I may see somebody on the street and observe them and think "what an interesting person" and I may watch their behavior for something in the future. It's just like in athletics when I left the track after practice and would be thinking about what I did that day, like, "Okay, this worked out. This was a good day," so I don't go back and repeat mistakes that I'd already made. Also, discipline is similar because you're going to go through ups and downs, good days and bad days as an actor or an athlete. However, the biggest difference is the relationships. You have relationships in sports, friendships...I had a track club where we were like brothers and sisters, we were very close. With acting, you don't have those type of consistent relationships. You must build the relationships the same way, bond as a team, it's just a shorter time.

What attracted you to this material specifically?

When I read the script I liked the idea and for me, my character really jumped out because he's really complicated. First of all, it's someone who's dealing with their mortality in terms of sports as well as dealing with a debilitating disease that may ultimately take his life. At the same time he must deal with his coach's death. I thought that this is a person who could go through the whole story sad and moping around but I had to make him real and somebody that people would like because he's going through these issues that people have to deal with every day. Also, the overall story is great because it ultimately deals with friendship and how people may leave each other but that friendship can remain true, I liked that. I think a lot of people can relate to it. When they called me for the movie, I was pleasantly surprised to be offered the role because it's the type of role that I wasn't getting offered.

How has your experience been filming here in Georgia ?

It's been great. I love Atlanta. I've been here many times. Of course in '96 and probably over fifty times in the early 90s, I even had a place here for a while. I have a lot of family in the area being originally from Birmingham. It's like a dream to be here. I would much rather have shot here than even in Los Angeles where I live because it's good to get away and to go somewhere different with people that I know and like...and I like the South. The only problem I'm having is the continuity with what I'm eating ( laughs). That's been my issue...but this project has been like a dream for me.

More Features:

• Cover Story: Greg Thompson
• Establishing Shot: Fairlie-Poplar
• The Insider's Scoop: Producing

On Set Reports:
• Good Intentions
• The Last Adam
• Fox NASCAR commercial