‘BASIC PSYCH’
David Conrad and Michael Cerveris square off in Pittsburghshot thriller
It’s not often that two actors with Pittsburgh ties get to headline a movie made in this region. That’s what makes “Basic Psych” such a unique addition to Hollywood on the Mon’s eclectic and ever-growing filmography.
This independent thriller was written by Fox Chapel-based pediatrician Jim Tucker and directed by Melissa Martin, a Ross resident known for helming 2001’s “The Bread, My Sweet.” It stars Michael Cerveris (“The Gilded Age”), a West Virginia native whose father grew up in Dormont, as well-todo therapist Stuart Prince, and Swissvale native David Conrad (“Ghost Whisperer”) as Dan, a potentially unstable and dangerous client.
“Basic Psych” was filmed throughout Western Pennsylvania over 23 days in July and August 2021. The Post-Gazette visited the film’s Braddock set a few days before production wrapped, and this reporter has been wondering ever since when it would see the light of day. Almost three years later, “Basic Psych” is finally complete and ready for public consumption.
“It took a lot longer than we thought it would,” Martin told the Post-Gazette earlier this week. “It’s worth the wait to get it right.”
No feature film concept had compelled Martin back into the director’s chair since “The Bread, My Sweet.” Her most high-profile project since 2001 was co-writing 2022’s locally shot teen drama “Dear Zoe.” That changed when she was handed Tucker’s script for “Basic Psych,” which quickly got her wheels turning with its exploration of the heady questions: What constitutes sanity, and what is just violence?
In addition to Cerveris and Conrad, “Basic Psych” also features Cotter Smith, a local actor who starred in Pittsburgh-shot Titanic drama “Unsinkable,” Siena Goines (“Days of Our Lives”) as Stuart’s wife; Carnegie Mellon University graduate Grace Rao as Hillary, who gets caught up in Stuart and Dan’s caught-and-mouse game; and barebones productions founder Patrick Jordan as another unhinged figure.
“Basic Psych” was about three weeks away from beginning production when COVID-necessitated lockdowns began in March 2020. Martin spent the next year-plus workshopping Stuart and Dan’s characters with Cerveris and Conrad. She already knew and trusted Conrad through previous collaborations, and it didn’t take long for her to develop that same level of comfort with Cerveris.
“We turn the cameras on, and suddenly it settles in,” she said. “Those guys are perfect together.”
What most attracted Martin to “Basic Psych” was the realization that both Dan and Stuart “think they’re the hero” of this narrative. Martin took Tucker’s initial script and began unpacking “this patriarchal idea of what men are” that unites those characters and becomes a liability for the women in their lives. She credited Tucker for being fully on board with her interpretation of his initial vision.
“If I were a man and making this film, it might have resonated differently for me,” Martin said. “But the things that I find interesting in it, I think add dimensionality to this story without making it something it isn’t.”
Filming locations for “Basic Psych” included the old Superior Motors building in Braddock, Vessel Studio on the South Side, RIDC’s O’Hara industrial park, Frick Park and two bars in Cheswick.
Martin praised a Fox Chapel couple for both letting them shoot in their house and allowing her to cast their daughter, Lucy Hine, as Dan’s daughter, Carly. As the film’s production designer, Martin sought out work from local artists like Cue Perry and Baron Batch to adorn the Princes’ home.
The film’s postproduction process took much longer than anticipated due to unexpected technical difficulties and scheduling issues, according to Martin. She approached “Unsinkable” producer PMI Films to get her pet project over the finish line.
David Case, PMI’s founder and CEO, told the Post-Gazette his company tends to be picky when choosing clients but was “wiling to get involved with” “Basic Psych” due to preexisting relationships with Martin and Tucker.
The “very talented and smart people who work there” helped solve their technical problems and connected Martin with Jesse Naus, the owner of Red Caiman Studios in Ross who ended up designing and mixing
the sound for “Basic Psych.” PMI’s assistance further proved to Martin that filmmaking in Pittsburgh has become “such a collaborative art form.”
“It’s important that the major film projects still come here, and it’s important that we support indie films,” she said. “That’s what makes a city vibrant. ... It’s great that we have a community here of people that can help.”
At this point, Martin is gathering up “deliverables” like a rough trailer and still images to show potential distributors. She hopes to get “Basic Psych” onto a streaming service and thinks the involvement of Cerveris, Conrad and Smith will help her case. Martin also plans to screen “Basic Psych” in Pittsburgh area theaters sometime in the near future.
For her, a film like “Basic Psych” couldn’t have reached this critical juncture in its life cycle without the combined efforts of PMI Films, its largely Western Pennsylvania-based production team, and two stars who jumped at the chance to make a movie in Pittsburgh.
“This project has been blessed by all those people,” Martin said. I’m always grateful.”