By Ken Mammarella
Delaware is embedded on screen and behind the scenes in The Conspiracists, an upcoming film featuring a brother and sister from Delaware planning a conspiracy convention at the Hotel Du Pont.
The sister, Daisy, is played by Terrie Lynne, a Cab Calloway School of the Arts alumna and Cab classmate of Eddie Layfield, one of the film’s three executive producers — a trio that includes his wife, Beatriz Naranjo, and Christoper Robert Bruce, a University of Delaware graduate and owner of King Creative, a Wilmington video production service. Guy Wellman, a friend of Bruce from UD who grew up in Newark, is also in the cast.
The 94-minute mockumentary will premiere Jan. 8 at The Grand in Wilmington.
“We’re bringing a full-scale, Hollywood-style premiere event — red carpet, searchlights, Q&A after,” Bruce says. It drops nationwide Jan. 9 on Amazon Prime and Verizon Fios.
Over 11 intense days in November 2024, 95% of the film was shot in Delaware, making it the first major feature filmed in the state since Dead Poets Society in 1989, the producers say. The other 5% was shot at the Havre de Grace Decoy Museum in Maryland, Naranjo adds.
The independent film was made with union talent for just under $250,000, and it’s the first recipient of a tax rebate from the Delaware Motion Picture and Television Development Commission, the producers say, covering 20% of preproduction and production costs. That rebate was “the spark that really gave the energy and kind of pushed Eddie and Bea to say ‘Yes, let’s do this in Delaware,’ ” Bruce says.
“Independent films are the sweet spots I think that Delaware can provide a home for,” he adds. “And they’re hoping our film will encourage others to do the same.”
Adds Naranjo: “Delaware is the perfect environment logistically to get these sorts of projects off the ground.”
Part of that environment is the wide variety of nearby settings. Easy connections are another part.
“It was really nice to come to Delaware, bring the community together and pull favors from all of our friends and family,” Layfield explains, noting that six Layfields are extras, and his and Naranjo’s Maltipoo, Beans, plays a dog named Theodore.
“The relationship side of Delaware is definitely a real thing,” Bruce says. “It’s not like 6 degrees of separation; it’s 1 to 1½ degrees of separation. … We leveraged those relationships. We were able to get a lot done and open a lot of doors.”
Besides the Hotel Du Pont, scenes were filmed at The Grand, Delaware Tire in Newark, Precious Paws in Elsmere, the Siegel Jewish Community Center in North Wilmington (which was used for the interior space of the ConCon) and various homes. Precious Paws was renamed Bark Ruffalo, which Layfield calls an “Easter egg” related to actor Mark Ruffalo, who has “a small, exciting cameo” via the unheard voice on the other end of a phone call in the film.
Bruce has a long relationship with Wellman, starting with their time at UD (Bruce wore the YouDee outfit, and Wellman was a cheerleader) and later at Delaware Children’s Theatre (Bruce was producing Broadway Santa and he cast Wellman as Blitzen, in his first professional acting role).
In The Conspiracists, Wellman said he was intrigued by the part of Curtis, a nonbeliever whose macho exterior hides a big secret. “I’ve played bad guys before, but Curtis was different, with the jabs and the teasing,” he says.
The Conspiracists is a comedy in the mockumentary style of the TV series The Office and Parks & Rec and Christopher Guest films such as This Is Spinal Tap and Best in Show.
Here’s how it’s described on its website: “When two siblings’ dreams of building an all-inclusive conspiracy convention begin to shatter, it’s up to one of them to put the pieces back together while the other strives to uncover a bigger conspiracy.”
Bruce promises that the film, with a 2020 script by director Michael Perrie Jr. and Lacy Reily, is fun and relatable. It “represents a community of people with different ideas and opinions coming together in a safe space.”
“We’re not poking fun at any conspiracy theories,” Naranjo says.
Lynne took off time from the ensemble of The Book of Mormon on Broadway to make the movie.
“For me to be back here shooting a movie with themes of discovery and community, it really did feel both familiar and nostalgic,” she says. “I used the elements of Delaware for sure, the unhurriedness that Wilmington can have, and I tried to play the opposite of that when it came to Daisy and her desire to bring something she was passionate about to life.
“I also think filming in my hometown in my first feature film was the best thing that could have happened to me. It’s where I’m from, where I have so many deep roots, and practically every day I felt ready and safe.”
— For the film’s schedule, visit The Conspiracists.com. For information or tickets to the premiere, visit TheGrandWilmington.org.
Above: Delaware native Terrie Lynne plays Daisy in the locally-produced mockumentary The Conspiracists.