'Very proud of it': Park Ridge native premiering movie filmed in hometown
Greg Glienna drew upon two major life influences — stand-up comedy and his hometown of Park Ridge — to make his latest movie.
A Los Angeles resident for the last two decades, Glienna returns home this weekend for the premiere of “The Road Dog,” an independent movie he directed and co-wrote. Glienna filmed the bulk of it in the Chicago area.
“I'm very proud of it,” Glienna said. “It'll be exciting to see it in a theater with an audience.”
Screenings are scheduled for Friday and Saturday at the Pickwick Theatre in Park Ridge. Glienna and the star of the movie, veteran stand-up comedian Doug Stanhope, will participate in question-and-answer sessions on both nights.
Tickets for the showings are available at the Pickwick Theatre website. The movie will be at the Pickwick through Thursday before arriving on cable, video on demand, DVD and other digital platforms on Oct. 6.
Glienna, who in 1992 created the original version of “Meet the Parents” and sold the idea to Universal Studios, is looking forward to being home for a couple of weeks with friends and family.
“I love Chicago, and I love coming back,” Glienna said.
“The Road Dog” tells the story of an alcoholic stand-up comic, played by Stanhope, who spans the country performing at comedy clubs as the industry steadily declines. His estranged son, played by fellow stand-up comic Des Mulrooney, arrives at Stanhope's hotel room one night, saying he's dropped out of medical school and wants to become a stand-up comedian.
What follows is a father-son road trip where they learn about each other and what it takes to survive in a changing, competitive comedy landscape.
Glienna, who wrote the movie with Tony Boswell, said he filmed much of the movie within about a mile of the Pickwick.
“We could never have done it on the budget we had if we'd shot it in Los Angeles, or really anywhere else other than Chicago because of all the help we had,” Glienna said.
Glienna graduated from Maine South High School, where he appeared in numerous plays and musicals, and dropped out of Columbia College when he started getting comedy gigs. He performed stand-up throughout the 1990s while opening for David Copperfield, Tim Allen, Connie Francis and Emo Philips, who helped finance Glienna's “Meet the Parents.”
“The Road Dog” has already enjoyed success on the film festival scene, winning Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor awards at the Hollywood Reel Independent Film Festival.
If “The Road Dog” is a success, Glienna plans to move back to the Chicago area so his production company, CEM Productions, can make future movies in the area.
“I'd love to move back and make more movies,” he said. “That's my hope.”