Catching up after school with “The Class”

Nicholas Celozzi found inspiration for his newest film, “The Class,” when he overheard a conversation between his daughter and her friends.

“I realized the things they were discussing were the same things I was discussing when I went to high school,” said Celozzi. “The difference is, there was a lot more at stake with them. There was a lot more now that kids are challenged with; with the internet, social media, and invisible bullies.” 

He continued, “Nonetheless, the same fears and idiosyncrasies and wants and loves still existed. And I realized it was just something we all passed down to everybody going to high school, it never changes.”  

Released on Sept. 9 across digital streaming platforms, “The Class” follows six high school teenagers as they attempt to navigate a makeup class in order to graduate — a modern version of the “The Breakfast Club.”  

The cast contains a group of young actors, such as Charlie Gillespie from “Julie and the Phantoms” and Lyric Ross, from “This is Us”. Also featured in the film is Anthony Michael Hall, who played Brian Jackson, the nerd, in the original 1985 film. 

“The Class” was written and directed by Nicholas Celozzi, and was filmed on Elmhurst University’s campus in the summer of 2021, giving some EU students the opportunity to work on the film.

Photo Provided By- © Monaco Films

Having grown up in Elmhurst and later moved to Hollywood to pursue his career in acting, returning to Elmhurst was a very surreal feeling for him due to not visiting the suburb in a long time. 

“There’s something very real about it, I always loved the people back there,” said Celozzi. “It felt great, I felt really good about it.” 

Nicholas Celozzi specifically chose Elmhurst University as the set of his movie because it provided a sense of realism, bringing the cast and crew back to the high school experience they were trying to emulate. With the help of professor Kristyn Jo Benedyk, “The Class” was able to make EU its home for a short period of time. 

“The cinematographer of the film, Pete Biagi, was the [cinematographer] on a film I directed in 2012. He knew that ‘The Class’ needed a college campus and that I was teaching at EU, and so he called me and asked if I thought the college would be open to it,” said Benedyk. 

She continued, “I connected the producers with everyone at EU who needed to be involved, and they made it happen very quickly.” 

With Elmhurst University’s President Troy VanAken’s approval, “The Class” was able to be shot with complete creative freedom, allowing the cast and crew to shoot scenes in various areas around EU’s campus. 

“As someone who enjoyed movies like ‘The Breakfast Club’ and who’d heard Debbie Gibson on the radio, it was a lot of fun having ‘The Class’ film on our campus last summer,” said VanAken.

He continued, “It was pretty quiet at the time because we still were living under pandemic limitations, so the crew brought a lot of excitement while they were here, along with the chance for quite a few of our students to work behind the camera.”

With Nicholas Celozzi having derived his inspiration for the film from his daughter, Juliette Celozzi, she later ended up landing a role within the movie. 

In “The Class” Juliette Celozzi plays Allie, a rich and quirky teenager. “The Class” also stars Micheal Sebastian, who portrays an emotionally troubled teenager named Michael. 

“I was, like, the last one casted, so I peeped the IMDB when I was, you know, auditioning and everything. And it seemed, like, you know a good group of other kids my age. And I was like, ‘Well, this seems fun, I feel like we’d all get along.’ And we did, which was amazing,” Sebastian said. 

Despite already acting in a few movies prior to this one, such as the 2011 documentary “Momo: The Sam Giancana Story,” Juliette Celozzi still felt nervous about auditioning for her role. 

“I actually auditioned on a table read, one of the first one’s, in front of the producers and some of the cast who had already been casted. So that was very nerve wracking for me, just, like, having that be my one chance. But, it went really well and everyone was really supportive…so it was an enjoyable experience.” Juliette Celozzi said. 

In order to create their characters, Juliette Celozzi and Micheal Sebastian were given the chance to tap into their inner teenager once again.

“Preparing for the roles, I definitely watched more teen focused shows…And kind of like reflecting on my own high school experience and what I really wanted at that time…So, like, that put me back in that younger kind of mindset,” said Juliette Celozzi. 

Sebastian, on the other hand, spent his time listening to lots of Nirvana. 

“Like I said, my character is very edgy and all that, so I felt like I needed to get into that mindset. I definitely watched a lot of teen movies, and all that drama, just to kind of see what it was like to be in high school again,” said Sebastian. 

Prior to casting the up-and-coming stars, Nicholas Celozzi reached out to Anthony Michael Hall. 

“That was something I felt passionate about. There were the obvious comparisons [to ‘The Breakfast Club’] … So I said to myself, ‘Out of The Breakfast Club, which one of them, the characters, would have grown up and become a teacher? Or then an assistant principal?’” said Nicholas Celozzi.

“The obvious choice was Anthony Michael Hall.”

Photo Provided By- President Troy VanAken

After reaching out to Hall, the pair spoke on the phone for several hours discussing how different the film was from “The Breakfast Club”. Despite having some similarities to the 1985 film, “The Class” touches on deeper topics and the stakes are higher for our young cast. However, when it came to being an executive producer and actor, Nicholas Celozzi let Hall do his thing. 

“I said to him, ‘Look, I want to let you loose. I want you to do what you feel, you know if you have a lot of improv that you’d like to share, go for it. Surprise these kids as much as you want’,” Nicholas Celozzi said. 

Hall was immediately sold on the idea, and quickly began to help as much as possible. For the young actors he and Debbie Gibson, 1980’s pop sensation turned actress, served as mentors. 

“It made me really learn a lot, from what they do to prepare for roles, and always giving compliments to us on set. They were always so encouraging, it was wonderful,” said Juliette Celozzi. 

“It was so nice working with both of them, you know? I’d grown up watching ‘Weird Science’ and ‘The Breakfast Club’ and ‘Sixteen Candles’,” said Sebastian.

He continued, “This being my first film, you know, you want to stick to the script and you’re afraid to go off script sometimes. And he’s a pretty funny guy, so he improvs a lot, so I felt more comfortable improving a bit more as we go on during filming.” 

Gibson scored her role within the film because of how similar she is to her character, Miranda. 

“Debbie, by nature, is a very nice person, she’s a very caring person,” Nicholas Celozzi said. “Outside of her career, music career, I didn’t realize that she was mentoring and she was teaching young kids.” 

While the cast was being mentored, various students at EU were provided the opportunity to help work on the movie, which gave them an opportunity to truly learn what it is like to work in the film industry. 

After receiving the news that “The Class” was going to make EU its home, Benedyk emailed her students about the opportunity.

“Any interested students sent their resume to the film’s producers. Luckily, I think the film was able to bring every interested student onto the set, which was a great opportunity for the students,” said Benedyk.  

One student involved in helping this movie come to life was Jade Link, a current senior majoring in digital media and Spanish. She stated that she was an extra in some scenes and also assisted with other areas within the movie. 

“The first day, I kind of watched the trailer. And then the second day I did a few runs for the costume department…And then the last week was my favorite week because I got to work with the camera department. I got to clap the slate and take camera measurements.” Link said. 

Through the process of working with the camera department, Link found her passion for cinematography.

“Working with the camera department kinda, like, inspired me to go into cinematography, for grad school. So now that I’m a senior, I want to go to grad school for cinematography. So actually, I’m glad I had that opportunity because now I know what I want to do after college,” Link said. 

“I knew the students were in good hands with Pete involved. I was able to visit [the] set one day and it made me so happy to see all my Digital Media students buzzing around, walkie talkies in hand, looking like they had been in the film business for years!” said Benedyk. 

Photo Provided By- President Troy VanAken