As I have learned over my many years, High School is not exactly like Rydell High in Grease. That was certainly true for me and also for the man behind the award winning film “Dr. Thompson.”
Nick DeRuve grew up on the rough side town in upstate New York. He took and excelled in every arts class offered by his school. But he ran out of arts classes to take so it was suggested to him that he take a film making class offered by his High School. It was between film making and Ancient Russian History so it wasn’t a tough decision; he took the film making class and discovered himself. It was a move that shaped the rest of his life.
At the tender age of 17 he had produced his first film which captured film festival laurels. He became completely hooked on the art and process of film making. He thoroughly enjoys creating characters and telling stories powerfully and effectively. He went off to college on an athletic scholarship to advance his knowledge of film making. Unfortunately a car accident near the end of his freshmen year ended his football career and the scholarship that came with it. But it did not end his education. He crewed on film sets for four years and completed his undergraduate studies. Now he is finishing up on his Masters of Fine Arts at the New York Film Academy in Universal City, California.
Nick DeRuve begin to look into the dark side of our rapidly expanding world of social media. True, internet sites such as My Space, Facebook and Twitter have greatly broadened the means by which we all inter connect and share our lives. However as Nick soon discovered these social media sites have also presented a horrible level of dark, evil and damaging behavior by a wide variety of psychopaths and perverts. He learned of abuses that have led to suicide by victims of internet torture. And every imaginable predator has infiltrated to stalk their prey, often our young and naïve children.
From this background Nick DeRuve wrote the screen play “Dr. Thompson.” Then he went to camera and produced an absolutely riveting film. It recently won top honors for a student film at the Burbank International Film Festival. Soon the short film will be in distribution via the internet. But not willing to stop there Nick already is working on plans to make “Dr. Thompson” a feature film and a theatrical release.
I saw this film with my 15 year old actress daughter at the film festival. I am very glad she was with me. “Dr. Thompson” is chilling and not a film that is easy to forget. But it is based in fact and knowledge is always the best way to defeat an evil. Dr. Thompson brilliantly played by veteran actor Richard Hench is an obsessed pervert utterly focused on a girl he believes to be a 17 year old hottie looking for sex. That fantasy has the good doctor in a sick obsession he cannot break. ATTENTION parents. Guys like this do exist. The movie takes a bizarre twist and leaves the audience with an important level of awareness about just some of the dangers that comes with the expanding social media of the internet.
I have met many film makers over the years, but I must say that Nick DeRuve stands out for his total commitment and passion as a story teller of the highest order. Currently he is searching for funding with which to turn “Dr. Thompson” into a feature film and also for another project his is working on; a story about his hometown in upstate New York, a place hit harder than most in today’s very tough economic times. I have no idea how these projects will fare, but so long as he remains focused and sustains his passion the day will come when Nick DeRuve will join the ranks of men like Steve Spielberg, Ron Howard and Barry Levinson, I’ll bet on it.
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