Tom Wisdom took the time to interview with us to talk about his upcoming film, The Lightkeepers, which opens in limited theaters nationwide this Friday March 19.
Directed by Daniel Adams and also starring Richard Dreyfuss, Blythe Danner, and Mamie Gummer, The Lightkeepers is set in the year 1912 about a cranky, women-hating lighthouse keeper (Richard Dreyfuss) and his like-minded assistant (Tom Wisdom). When two lovely women (Blythe Danner and Mamie Gummer) rent the nearby cottage for the summer, they struggle to resist the inevitable: Love.
About his character, John Brown, Tom describes him as, “a mysterious character, who seems to be hiding from his past. He is from a high society family in London and has apparently jumped overboard from a steamship off the shores of Cape Cod.”
On filming in beautiful and historic Cape Cod, Tom tells us that in some places in the area it feels timeless, which is a perfect setting for the film. With spectacular scenery surrounding them, they were able to film with whales just 50 feet from the shore. Although, being in a somewhat remote location has its disadvantages, “The hotel we were at wasn’t within walking distance of anything and I couldn’t drive then, so to be honest I was a bit stuck! Lets just say that the bartenders knew me very well by the end of the shoot. They also had a pool table, which is a passion of mine, so I was happy to while away the time I wasn’t at the bar playing pool.”
He fondly tells us about his co-stars in the film, “I was very excited to work with Richard and Blythe. I had already been in a film with Blythe (The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2), but had never met her. She was lovely and is excellent in the film. I wish I had more scenes with her as I could have learned a lot from her. I really enjoyed working with Mamie – we had good fun together and she is a very talented actress. We also were very lucky to have such a good crew on such a low budget film and when the going got tough (which it did!), they made it a lot of fun.” He adds, “The main highlight though, was getting to work with Richard Dreyfuss. I learned a lot about the business from him!”
He tells us that the Cape Cod locals were very supportive and went out of their way to help the cast and crew on the film. “They seemed very pleased to have a local director filming on the Cape, making a film with such great actors. I discount myself from that of course…they didn’t know who the hell I was!”
Rest assured, they certainly know who you are now, Mr. Wisdom!