By Jae-Ha Kim
Chicago Sun-Times
January 17, 1999
No, you don’t need to get your eyes checked. Those guys you spotted in Chicago who looked a lot like Jeremy Piven, William Devane and Kyle Chandler probably were the stars of “Cupid,” “Turks” and “Early Edition,” respectively.
All three series are shot exclusively in Chicago.
NBC’s “ER” and CBS’ “Chicago Hope” – which both debuted in 1994 – fly their casts and crews here regularly to shoot on location.
Chicago has gone Hollywood. Or, more accurately, Hollywood has come to Chicago.
OK, we know the attractions our fair city could hold for the networks. But after a few weeks of record snowfalls and bone-chilling temperatures, one wonders: Why here instead of sunny California?
Well, we may think of snow as something to be shoveled. But TV producers say it lends an air of authenticity.
“You know how you see scenes where the characters are supposed to be outside freezing, but the fake snow just doesn’t look real?” asked Rob Thomas, creator and co-executive producer of ABC’s “Cupid,” which debuted last fall. “When our actors are in those scenes, there’s no fake snow. When they speak, you can see their breath crystalizing from the cold. I love how authentic that feels on film.
“But that’s not the only reason. We could’ve picked any number of cities. Chicago is just very photogenic. When you have a show like
ours that’s big on exterior shots, you want that.”
And if your star, homeboy Piven, mentions he’d really enjoy filming in Chicago, that’s something to consider as well.
“Jeremy campaigned constantly and hard to film in Chicago, and we certainly listened to his views,” Thomas continued, laughing. “When I wrote the pilot, I had set the show in New York. I’d never been to Chicago before, so I hadn’t really considered it as a location.
“When we decided to film it in Chicago, I had to change all the New York references. I’d call my friends who lived in Chicago and say, `I have a reference to the Empire State Building. What should I replace it with?’ ”
ABC’s “Cupid” will be going head-to-head with the new cop drama “Turks,” which premieres at 8 p.m. Thursday on WBBM-Channel 2.
And even more coincidentally, “Turks” and “Early Edition” are shot at opposite ends of the same 70,000-square-foot West Taylor Street facility.
Paul Adelstein, 29, plays a cop on “Turks” and also appears as a member of a singles’ therapy group on “Cupid.” This afternoon, in the 45,000-square-foot warehouse on West Roosevelt that houses four “Turks” sets, makeup artist Jamie Weiss is touching up the actor’s artistically battered face.
“I was supposed to have been beaten up,” Adelstein explained. “It’s really exciting to be working in Chicago, but it’s very strange to be on two shows that are up against each other. I couldn’t pick one over the other, so I’m really fortunate that both shows are really good about accommodating the schedules so that I can do this show this week and `Cupid’ at the end of next week.”
“Turks” producer Jim Michaels also has no hard feelings about his ABC competition. Michaels, who grew up in northwest suburban Arlington Heights, said that he wished nothing but the best for “Cupid.”
“It is kind of funny how the scheduling of the shows worked out,” Michaels said. “But, hopefully, there’ll be room for everyone. Who would’ve thought the day would come when a show from Chicago would be pitted against another show from Chicago?
“Actually, San Francisco had been discussed as a possible location, but ultimately it was (show creator-executive producer Robert) Singer who decided to shoot the series all in Chicago. I know he wanted to try something different. So many shows are shot in Los Angeles, and that gets to look boring after a while. Chicago’s more visible on TV now, but the city’s still not overexposed, and that’s really attractive to us.”
The feeling is mutual. According to the Illinois Film Office, having the city featured on shows such as “ER” and “Early Edition” is excellent publicity.
“There’s the cash benefit of having a show shoot here, but there are ancillary benefits as well,” said Ron Verkuilen, managing director of the Illinois Film Office. “We’ve gotten calls from German tourists wanting to go to Navy Pier because they saw it on an episode of `ER.’
“I’m not sure what the budgets are for the shows filming here now, but a series like (the defunct) `The Untouchables’ had a budget of $1.4 million per episode. About 80 percent of that amount was used on Chicago talent and crew, caterers, florists, hotels, etc. When you take into account that these series film from July through April, that’s a considerable amount of cash flow for the city, since three-fourths of everything that’s shot in Illinois is shot in the Chicago area.”
“Early Edition” producer Loucas George credits his show with helping pave the way for the young turks filming here now.
“I think the success of our show certainly acknowledged that we knew what we were doing,” George said. “Chicago was looked on favorably based on our experiences here.”
Does he believe that other series will shoot in Chicago?
Laughing, he said, “It wouldn’t surprise me one bit.”
