ST. LOUIS, Mo. -- Filmmakers find their inspiration in a variety of ways. For director, screenwriter and St. Louis native Cody Stokes, spending time away from his young daughter was the creative spark for the feature film he’s shooting in his hometown.
“I grew up in St. Louis and I think it’s an underutilized city in terms of its visual aesthetic and its talent,” said Stokes. “I feel like we’re so overlooked in terms of the things we have here so I knew when I was going to make a film that I wanted to come back and utilize the city I love.”
Production of “The Ghost Who Walks” has been underway in St. Louis for more than two weeks.
Downtown St. Louis, Dogtown, the Central West End and Chesterfield Mall are among the locations where filming has taken place.
“I made my first movie when I was in high school,” said Stokes, referring to his alma mater Chaminade High School.
After film school, directing commercials took him to New York, and once his daughter was born four years ago, the travel and time away from family bothered him. But it also provided a spark of inspiration.
“I wrote this film when my daughter was born and it was kind of an examination of fatherhood and being away a lot because I’m on the road for my job a lot, so I knew when I shot this film I wanted to go home at night,” said Stokes. “I’m pretty busy and don’t have a lot of extra time but that was part of it too. I wanted to be where my family was when I shot it.”
“When she was born and my directing career was kind of taking off I was gone a lot and I started thinking about what does that mean as a father, what if I don’t come home, what if she doesn’t understand who I am, what if I miss something, and I knew I wanted to examine that in a film, and I also knew I wanted to make it entertaining and exciting,” he said.
“The Ghost Who Walks” is a crime thriller written by Stokes.
“When I pitch the film to people I say it’s ‘Carlito’s Way’ meets ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’, said Stokes. “The he film is about and ex-con who rats out his former employer to get out and find the daughter he’s never met, and as so as he does that he’s kind of a marked man. The whole movie he’s trying to find them and everyone else is trying to find him.”
St. Charles native Daniel Gartner, a friend of Stokes since high school, is producing the film, which requires a variety of skills and duties.
“Everything from helping arrange the casting, making sure we stay on budget, on time, on schedule,” said Gartner. “I let people know where to be, when to be there, what we’re going to need for each shot. Make sure Cody the director has everything he needs to work with to get what he needs.”
Despite the challenges presented by a low budget independent film, Stokes is quietly confident. Being the man in charge, directing in his hometown and hoping to pay back his St. Louis investors doesn’t seem to faze him.
“I think the biggest challenge to film is always time and money you always want more,” said Stokes. “We’re making a multi-million dollar film on a much smaller budget. That doesn’t really scare me. I make commercials for a living so I deal with a lot of high pressure, high stress situations.”
For more information on “The Ghost Who Walks” www.theghostwhowalksmovie.com.
