Sun-Times Goes Hollywood
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The filmmakers first approached the Tribune, but decided the feel of the newsroom there was wrong. They found the less pristine Sun-Times more to their liking, says Lydon; they also liked its proximity to a vacant space directly across the Chicago River that was transformed into a coffee shop used extensively in the film.
Then began the serious negotiations. Sun-Times vice president of promotions Chuck Champion and executive editor Mark Nadler, among others, read the script, and Nadler suggested some changes in parts that dealt with the newspaper. “Some of the stuff was out-of-date,” he says. “There were a lot of anachronisms.” The filmmakers decided they wanted access to the Sun-Times’s delivery trucks and some of its street boxes in addition to use of the building. Lydon says the site-rental fee eventually paid to the paper was in the “low five figures,” pocket change for a film that cost more than $20 million to make. Apparently the Sun-Times settled for what it hoped would be good visibility, though Lydon says the film’s producers offered no guarantees the paper’s name would appear even once in the final cut.
The New Art Examiner, the respected 19-year-old Chicago-based monthly devoted to the visual arts, is fighting for its life. Buffeted by a severe slump in advertising and high overhead costs, the magazine is looking to raise approximately $60,000 from subscribers and friends to help it survive the tough times. So far it’s taken in about $9,000. “We got broadsided by a drop in advertising,” says managing editor Allison Gamble.
Museum of Contemporary Art Goes East
