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Six Northern Illinois University students in the Department of Communication are shooting for the stars this summer, as in the Hollywood variety.

As part of a unique summer course, the students are in California working on “Slipstream,” an independent film written and directed by Oscar-winner Anthony Hopkins, who also stars.

Other cast members include Christian Slater, John Turturro, Michael Clark Duncan, Camryn Manheim, Jeffrey Tambor, S. Epatha Merkerson, Fionnula Flanagan, Christopher Lawford, Stella Arroyave, Lisa Pepper, Kevin McCarthy, Gavin Grazer, Aaron Tucker and Lana Antonva.

NIU Communication Professor Laura Vazquez and NIU alumnus Robert Katz, a veteran Hollywood producer, developed the opportunity for the students, who all have advanced production skills. They traveled with Vazquez to Los Angeles in early June to begin working on the film. The students have been placed in mentored internship positions that match their interests and are keeping brief diaries of their Hollywood adventure.

Hopkins’ film is a noir-comedy about an actor and would-be screenwriter who, at the very moment of his meeting with fate, comes to discover that life is random and fortune is sightless as he is thrown into a vortex where time, dreams and reality collide. The creative team features acclaimed cinematographer Dante Spinotti and celebrated costume designer Julie Weiss.

In addition to several locations in the Los Angeles area, filming will take place in the California desert.