The director of “Drop Dead Fred,” the classic cult film about imaginary friends, Ato De Jong will premiere his new film, “Heart Strings” in Louisville this Saturday, Sept. 7 in Paristown. But wait, that’s not the best part. Local singer-songwriters Carly Johnson and Sam Varga have leading roles in the film and the film was shot entirely in Louisville. The film follows the lives of musicians as they journey to discover what they value most.
For Carly Johnson the film represents not only her big screen debut but a gentle return to something she loved doing in her youth, acting.
“Outside of doing some theater in high school, This is definitely my film debut. I've done a couple musicals in high school, and I went to Walden Theater for two years in high school. I always loved it,” Johnson told LEO in a phone interview.
“I've never done anything like this. So it was definitely a huge first for me.”
Johnson’s involvement came through her connection to Gill Holland’s SonaBlast! Record label.
“They reached out to SonaBlast!, the local label that Gill Holland owns. And they were really interested in having musicians play the main roles because the characters are musicians in the movie, and they just like the authenticity there.”
The director saw Johnson’s video for “Burn Your Fears,” and wanted her to work with them on the movie.
The Atherton High School alum technically got the role with an unusual audition. Instead of the typical performance for a role, she had a series of video calls with the director, writer and the actor who plays her husband in the film, Stephen Said.
“It really felt very out of nowhere for me, but I've always wanted to be in a movie. I felt so lucky and excited and I'm not terribly into country music, but I was like, ‘this is cool.’
Johnson is very much a soul singer who found her way to music through the guidance of a teacher during some rough school years.
“I look back on it now, and I must have just been really depressed or had anxiety because towards the end of my junior year going into senior year, I just stopped going to school,” Johnson said. “I was this A-student that, all of a sudden, I'm like, ‘I'm not getting up in the morning.’ I would just go to chamber singers, and they were like, ‘you are not going to get into college.’ Like, ‘you have got to sing.’”
Her choir teacher gave Johnson the direction she needed and she had grades enough to luckily make it into the University of the Arts in Philadelphia.
From her childhood singing Disney songs, through the struggle of teen years, and now 14 years into living as a professional musician, Johnson is proud to share “Heart Strings” with her hometown. For this event, there will also be a concert of the performers before the showing of the film.
“I don't know if you've heard of Seratones. AJ Haynes, she's one of the characters, and she's the lead singer. She's awesome. She was a backup singer for Black Pumas for a while,” said Johnson. “She'll be there. She's gonna sing. I'm gonna sing. The lead in the movie, Maggie Kerner. She's from right by New Orleans, Lafayette. She's gonna sing, and Sam Vargas from Louisville.”
The event kicks off in Christy’s Garden (720 Brent St.) in Paristown on Saturday, Sept. 7 with red carpet at 6 p.m., concert at 7 p.m., and the film showing at around 8:15 p.m. when the sun goes down.
Tickets for the premiere can be purchased via paristown.com.
Check out the trailer for the film:
