Milwaukee Expat Filmmaker Produces ‘Unplugged’ with Star Cast

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As small press novels go—make that contemporary literature in general—Unplugged has had incredible longevity. Paul McComas’ 2002 Unplugged, about a rock star in recovery from an abused childhood, was reissued by Santa Barbara publisher John Daniel & Co. in a 2017 expanded edition. The E-Publishers Group called it “the best-reviewed small-press novel of the ’20-aughts.” The new edition won several prizes and was turned into a musical.

Now, McComas, a Milwaukee expat living in Chicago, is executive producing and co-directing an Unplugged film from his own screenplay (which already received accolades in writing competitions). Production on Unplugged continues with an enviable cast that includes Christina Ricci (Prozac Nation), Sheryl Lee (“Twin Peaks”), Oscar-winner Louis Gossett Jr., Jonathan Joss (“Parks and Recreation”) and X guitarist John Doe. Ed Asner (“Mary Tyler Moore”) will appear in his final role. Asner died earlier this year after wrapping his role as a physician to the story’s troubled rock star protagonist, Dayna Clay (played by Green Bay riot-grrrl Holly Trasti, also co-director and associate producer).

McComas began making movies in adolescence, crafting sci-fi with a hand-held camera, sets constructed from household objects and casts of neighborhood kids. “Having been both a fiction writer and a filmmaker since my pre-teens, I probably write all of my stories with a cinematic adaptation, or at least the possibility of one, in mind,” McComas says. “Certainly, while writing I envision the narrative unfolding in cinematic terms. Multiple reviewers have described my fiction as ‘cinematic’; in at least one case, that was not meant as a compliment, but given my love of film I still take it as one.”

Some aspects of Unplugged’s screenplay were tailored to fit the cast. “It's been hella fun going back and revising the screenplay once each role has been cast: 'Ed-Asner-izing’ the small-town physician Dr. Eaton,’ ‘Christina-Ricci-izing’ the heroine's love interest, Kit; and so on,” McComas explains. “These roles were already suitable for the talent in question, but the casting sharpened the characterizations. It’s working well for the casting director and the screenwriter to be the same person.”

Struggling with depression, Unplugged’s rock star protagonist hands her guitar to a teenage fan at the end of a successful tour and retreats—incognito—to the South Dakota Badlands for some much-needed reflection. Her mysterious disappearance just as her career reaches a new pinnacle drives album sales and media attention.

McComas explains the emotional inception of Unplugged: “A major inspiration for me to write about—and from the point of view of—a survivor of childhood rape, depression and post-traumatic stress was a young Milwaukeean who did not survive. My first-ever girlfriend was raped at age 20 and took her own life six months later. My protagonist, Dayna Clay, is not based on her, but the real-life story certainly helped drive me to create Dayna and guide her to live, grow and thrive.

“There’s a crucial moment in which the intermittently suicidal Dayna manages to step back from the edge of a Badlands cliff, turn around and climb down to solid ground. Not until after I’d written the scene did I realize the extent to which this represented wish fulfillment, or revisionism, or whatever you want to call it, vis-a-vis the actual suicide-by-jumping that took place in Milwaukee in 1985.”

McComas drew inspiration from his involvement in the local punk scene. “It was as a teen in Milwaukee that I discovered punk rock, or it discovered me, or both, and there’s a definite punk/riot-grrrl vein—both musically and in attitude—running through Dayna and Unplugged.”

Determined to remain in the Midwest, McComas has compensated for his distance from the coastal power centers through tireless networking. “I’ve never regretted remaining in the heartland; turns out, you don’t need to live in Hollywood for your short-form indie films to meet with festival success. I still wouldn't want to live there! But over the decades I’ve had fun, productive visits.

“The Catch-22 of a project of this scale is that it’s nearly impossible to attract big names unless you already have some. Well, thanks to the networking I’d done and the resultant friendships, I ‘went in’ with Mr. Asner committed to the fourth-biggest role; John Doe (of X the band) in the third biggest (essentially the male lead); and, as producers, Oscar-winning filmmaker Lynne Littman (Testament) and Golden-Globe-winning producer Adam Belanoff (“The Closer”)." Also involved in the project are Jeri Ryan (“Star Trek: Voyager”), Valeria Cotto (The Florida Project) and Dana Ashbrook (Twin Peaks”)

Unplugged is an animated feature, a move driven by practical necessity. “While revising what was still a live-action screenplay, I realized I’d scripted something impossible: the actions of a herd of bighorn sheep. You can’t direct bighorns!” Animation also allowed the production to move along through the pandemic with greater safety for the cast and crew.

“The piece’s magical-realist element is far easier to convey—and with less risk of seeming corny—through animation,” he continues. “I’ve hired an all-women animation team working under a pair of women animation directors (Neko Pilarcik-Tellez and Brianne McGuirk), as well as a female character designer; so, even though Dayna’s tale—an inherently feminist story—was written by a man, it’s being brought to visual life by women under the joint direction of Holly and me.”