Someone Saved My Life: Critically Acclaimed Director, Angelo Pizzo, Films Independent Passion Project

By Brittany Marshall • Photos Provided By Martin Boling 

Indiana born filmmaker, Angelo Pizzo, 76, director of Hoosiers and Rudy, has embarked on a new passion project: a coming-of-age film centered around Pizzo’s middle school experience. Someone Saved My Life, written and directed by Pizzo, features up-and-comer actors, West Mulholland (Roy) and Preston Oliver (Dean), Twilight actress, Rachelle LeFevre (Eileen) and Disney starlet, Ruby Rose Turner (Beth). 

The story follows a young prodigy breaking free from his mother’s exorbitant expectations, tackling themes of maturation— discovering personal agency and charting one’s own life path, explains Pizzo. 

“My stage mother had me overscheduled, living her own unlived life through me. I became the go-to boy and piano player at Indiana University theatrical and musical productions. I was a little toy puppet with very little agency of my own, until I met a charismatic, confident boy in eighth grade who showed me an alternative way of becoming my own person.” 

“He gave me the kind of power to individuate from my mother and her clutches. He was incredibly smart, charming, and mature beyond his years—a sociopath, but I didn’t see that.” 

Bloomington. Indiana,1962 

When Pizzo started Binford Junior High School in 1962, he met a young boy—the quarterback at his school—who became his ‘mentor.’ 

“You were either scared shitless of him or you were in awe. I knew I wouldn’t be allowed to play football for fear of my hands getting injured. When I told him this, he responded, ‘has it ever occurred to you to tell your mother to go fuck herself?’” 

“I went through an intense rebellion stage, going from a straight A kid to walking on the wild side and rejecting everything, I stopped piano lessons and even went to school at times,” said Pizzo. At one point, I even lived with this friend.” 

In his high school yearbook, Pizzo had zero activities listed and graduated in the lower eighth of his class but, for the first time, he was a “totally free agent.” 

“After many years of therapy, I discovered the irony that this boy, who was seriously disturbed in his own right, really saved my life. The same power he gave me to individuate from my mother, was the same strength I needed to walk away from him in ninth grade.”

Story Comes to Life

The title, Someone Saved My Life, came from enlightened therapy sessions focused on Pizzo’s childhood trauma. He began writing the script 12 years ago and shared it with his siblings, a process he found “therapeutic.”

“They were uniform in saying, ‘don’t make the film while mom’s alive.’ I didn’t think about it again until she passed away, and it started bubbling up in my brain.”

“There are some intense scenes between characters playing my mom and I, and I was nervous to relive that trauma,” said Pizzo. “Rachelle [Lefevre] understood the challenge of that role and really humanized her. You can sympathize with her, and some people will understand her perspective.” 

After casting, characters become an “amalgamation” of what was originally intended, with actors adding their own personality and quirks, explains Pizzo. 

“Roy is a mastermind, like a cult leader. His words are hypnotic and manipulative, and he has a charisma that demands respect wherever he goes,” said Mulholland, Stanford film and media studies student acting the part of Roy. “He comes from a poor family but doesn’t want anyone to know that. This is one reason he’s obsessed with Dean; He wants his life.” 

Production

Creating a period film adds additional financial burden, from specific wardrobe to cars, he explains. For example, it cost $30,000 to rent the vintage football uniforms. Working with an A-list crew, including a dramatic score from composer Larry Groupé and cinematography from Indiana native, Larry Blanford, brought unique quality and experience to the set. 

“It was a gift to be there from the start of the film, assisting the crew behind the scenes gave me a unique perspective playing Roy, and as an aspiring filmmaker,” said Mulholland. 

Pizzo was resolute in filming in his Indiana hometown, a feat which required personal funding from Pizzo, family, and friends.This also allowed him to have full creative control of the project. In total, the film cost $2 million to produce and was filmed in 20, 14-hour days. 

“It was not just a low budget, it was a microbudget. It was a new experience being the bank and financing, but I knew I needed to shoot this in Bloomington. I renegaded against taking this movie to Netflix. This could be my last movie, and I wanted to make it very personal, but it was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do.”

“I aspire to make films with the kind of production quality I’ve been connected to in my other films; the stories you don’t stop thinking about, even if it’s just a particular moment in the film that resonates with the audience.”