51ÂŇÂ×

Just in time for Halloween, the horror film “Shelby Oaks” is now showing at the . What makes the screening especially exciting for the 51ÂŇÂ× community is that it features one of their own—Chicago-based actor and OHIO alum Anthony Baldasare (BFA ’17).

Baldasare, who earned his BFA in Acting from OHIO’s College of Fine Arts, appears in the highly anticipated horror film directed by Chris Stuckmann. The film’s theatrical run at the Athena marks a full-circle moment for Baldasare, from his days onstage in Athens to his appearance in one of the year’s most talked-about indie releases.

Q: What made you want to pursue acting?
Baldasare: I grew up in an artistic household. My mom has a dance studio in Columbus that was literally part of the house I grew up in. Unfortunately, I didn't really inherit her dancing skills, though I've somehow been cast in musicals professionally, so maybe there's hope for me yet. My dad is an actor in theater and independent film—you can actually catch a photo of him with me for a second towards the beginning of Shelby Oaks. From second grade through middle school, he and I toured to schools and retirement homes doing two-man shows, including “A Christmas Carol” (he played Scrooge and I played everyone else) and Shakespeare productions. I also appeared with him in shows at Schiller Park with Actors Theatre of Columbus and in a long touring production of Encyclopedia Brown with CATCO.

Q: What was the process like for auditioning and being cast in “Shelby Oaks?” What did the filming schedule look like and how long have you been working on this production?
Baldasare: I was one of the first people cast in the movie, and at this point we're talking the end of 2020—like five years ago! I got the audition through my Ohio/Kentucky agent Heyman Talent and then did a callback over Zoom. Initially, I was auditioning for “The Paranormal Paranoids,” which was actually a YouTube channel we created as part of a viral marketing campaign for the movie. We shot it with Chris Stuckmann in 2021, going to abandoned locations and making full YouTube episodes for these characters. If you search "Paranormal Paranoids" on YouTube, you can find the whole marketing campaign. We had YouTubers like ReignBot and Nightmind making videos about us as if we were real—some with nearly 900,000 views—and people actually believed it. We'd see comments like "Oh yeah, I remember these guys from back in the day!" and we'd say to ourselves, "No you don't remember us! We made this up!" It was pretty wild. Eventually, we shot the "final tape" of our disappearance that appears later in “Shelby Oaks.” The movie kept building momentum from there as they shot the main narrative. I came back for ADR (Automated Dialogue Replacement) about a year or two ago and did some reshoots this past March as well.

Q: Can you tell us a bit about what “Shelby Oaks” is about and your character
Baldasare: “Shelby Oaks” is about a woman's desperate search for her sister upon realizing the imaginary demon from their childhood might have been real. The missing sister is Riley Brennan, who was the host of the popular YouTube channel The Paranormal Paranoids. That's where I come in. Her last known appearance is with her team of YouTubers, and that story is told through found footage and a faux documentary that kicks off the movie. My character's name is Peter Bailey, and you see him throughout the documentary and found footage portions of the film.

Q: How does it feel to be involved in a production that’s generating such buzz
Baldasare: It's pretty surreal for a couple of reasons. For one, a lot of this was shot so long ago—especially the found footage portions I'm in, which were the first things shot for the movie. When I was first cast, the movie had no attention and was pretty much under wraps. But then a chain of incredible things happened. First, it had a literal history-making Kickstarter campaign, raising almost $1.4 million to finish the movie. It's the highest-funded crowdfunded horror movie of all time and one of the highest-funded films period in the platform's history—definitely in the top 10. This allowed Chris to afford his dream cast and film the narrative portions the way he wanted to. Then Mike Flanagan came on as an Executive Producer and helped greatly with post-production. I got to meet him when we played in Montreal—one of the nicest people you'll ever meet! Finally, right before our world premiere, the movie was picked up by Neon, one of the biggest independent film distributors in the world. After we played a couple of festivals with the earlier version, Neon read Chris's script and realized there were scenes not yet shot due to time and budget constraints. They decided to help fund three days of reshoots this past March—I got to work on one of them. The film also got a fresh editing polish from Brett Bachman, known for films like “Pig” and “Mandy,” which really enhanced the final product. All of that is a long-winded way of saying this movie has had a lot of incredible things happen since I first started working on it, and it's pretty surreal that it's getting this level of attention.

Q: Are there any skills or experiences from your time at OHIO that helped influence your career and who you are today?
Baldasare: Yeah—all of them. OHIO is really great at shaping you as a person and an artist first, before even getting into the business side of acting. That's important because the things they teach you not only help you book acting work but are also applicable to literally any other career path you could choose. I still try to use Fitzmaurice, the Meisner training, Suzuki, movement work, Michael Chekhov—you name it. I may not remember all of it, but it's definitely shaped me as a performer. It also helps that my former professors David (Haugen) and Shelley (Delaney) still coach me on auditions relatively often, so I still have access to those resources all these years later. OHIO also has such a great alumni community in major markets—LA, Chicago, New York, you name it. Shelley just came up to Chicago to direct me and other alumni in a play, and it was some of the most fun I've ever had working on a production.

Q: What are your future goals or where will we see you next?
Baldasare: I'm in another film coming out next year called The Man Who Changed the World. It's a biopic set in the 1960s about architect Bud Stoecker (played by Christopher Lowell) and his mentor Buckminster Fuller (played by Wallace Shawn). I play the assistant to Rae Stanwick (played by Illeana Douglas) and appear in a couple of different scenes. Ultimately, I really just want to work as an actor. Chicago has a wonderful theater community, and I love working in theater here. I want to keep expanding my portfolio and meeting more cool people while doing what I love as much as possible.