A & E

In Carl Kurlander's world -- Hollywood -- you don't work for decades to build a successful career, then chuck it all and move back to Pittsburgh.

But in 2003, that's exactly what writer-producer Kurlander ("St. Elmo's Fire," "Saved by the Bell"), his wife and his young daughter did -- leaving Los Angeles neighbors like David Schwimmer, Richard Simmons and the guy who played "Bud Bundy" -- for, quite literally, Mr. Rogers' neighborhood.

It was a traumatic move -- he even ended up discussing it on "Oprah" -- and not the best idea, career-wise. But it inspired a movie, "My Tale of Two Cities," and a self-appointed mission to help nurture and sustain a new industry in Pittsburgh, culminating in the creation of the Steeltown Entertainment Project. The red-carpet Pittsburgh premiere of "My Tale of Two Cities" will be Friday night at the Byham Theater, Downtown.

"We made a short film called 'Pittsburgh: Hollywood's Best-Kept Secret,'" Kurlander says. "We wanted to make a normal, straight documentary about Pittsburgh, and nobody was interested in that."

So Kurlander went on to make "My Tale of Two Cities" -- a comeback story about Pittsburgh -- but also part autobiography, part coming-of-age story, part goofy comedy and part self-aware movie-within-a-movie. In it, he blunders around, half-comically, half-seriously, trying to find a new industry for a Pittsburgh still wistfully hoping Big Steel would come back.

Inevitably, this involved throwing a football around with Franco Harris on the North Side, buying cheese in the Strip with Teresa Heinz Kerry, eating an early breakfast at Ritter's Diner with former U.S. Treasury Secretary and Alcoa CEO Paul O'Neill, and discussing faith and renewal with Sister Linda Yankoski of the Holy Family Institute.

"My cinematographer said he'd only shoot this movie if he could film me asking my dermatologist for money for the movie," explains Kurlander, who is now a Visiting Distinguished Senior Lecturer at the University of Pittsburgh.

Luckily, his dermatologist and 19 other Pittsburgh "neighbors" helped finance the film, which took several years to put together. Some of the details are a little dated -- the city has just been declared "financially distressed" and Bob O'Connor is still waiting to take charge.

"We started three years ago, when Pittsburgh was financially distressed (and) people were writing it off," Kurlander says. "Now, three years later, Pittsburgh just got written up in Time magazine as the one economic bright spot. Now, the country is going through what Pittsburgh was going through.

"People seem to think America needs to reinvent itself. And Pittsburgh can, perhaps, be an inspiration for that."

The movie also gave Kurlander a chance to tackle some unresolved issues from his childhood in Pittsburgh, which wasn't always idyllic and perfect.

In one odd but memorable scene, he revisits a girl he had a crush on in high school -- he wrote "St. Elmo's Fire" to impress her -- and gets her daughter and his intern to re-enact the climactic scene from the movie.

"Yeah, even I was embarrassed watching that," Kurlander says. "I was just interviewing Cyril Wecht at the morgue ... and I came over to see Lynn, and she said her daughter was going to be there. I looked over at my intern -- who people kept saying resembled me when I was thin and had hair. I grabbed the original short story of 'St. Elmo's Fire,' and ... it's just insanity. I plead insanity. I hope people find it funny."

Although there are plenty of famous faces in the film, some of the most memorable are regular Pittsburghers.

"So many people in Pittsburgh are stars in the best sense of the word," Kurlander says. "Like my gym teacher. People out in Hollywood saw the movie out in the William Morris Screening Room -- and you have people who represent Jim Carrey going, 'This guy is funny.'"

There were a lot of interviews and other bits and pieces that ended up getting cut. Kurlander hopes to bring some of it back as extras on a DVD, eventually.

"We actually did interview Jeff Goldblum and would have liked to use that," Kurlander says. "Sally Wiggin had a wonderful interview. There was a woman who sold the Terrible Towel as lingerie. ... Dan Onorato and Jim Roddey had a scene at the Point where they talked about how (during a crisis) Republicans and Democrats worked together. One of the hardest cuts we had to make was to cut them out of the movie.

"I also finally confessed to Franco that I was actually a Minnesota Vikings fan growing up. He said, 'That's OK. It was a stupid decision, but it's OK.'"

Kurlander realized that people like him -- who had left town physically, but not in their hearts -- were a great part of Pittsburgh's appeal. He organized giant meet-ups for expatriate Pittsburghers in Los Angeles, New York City and Point State Park, culminating in giant singalongs of Mr. Rogers' "Won't You Be My Neighbor?"

The Steeltown Entertainment Project was created to tap into this network, and nurture the talent already here, to help Pittsburgh build up its own entertainment industry. So far, the support from Pittsburghers, current and former, from billionaires to gym teachers, has been inspiring.

"When people in L.A. see this movie, like my agent -- who represents Michael Bay (director of 'Transformers'), they ask, 'Why were people so honest and open with you?'" Kurlander says. "Well, that's part of the nature of Pittsburgh. They have reality shows in L.A., but people here are just real."

Related events

• Before the screening of "My Tale of Two Cities," there will be a VIP cast reception, from 5:30-6:30 p.m. at Fifth Avenue Place, where the public is invited to meet some of the film's cast and crew.

• After the 7 p.m. screening, the public is invited to join Mr. McFeely in blowing out the candles for Pittsburgh's 250th birthday and singing Pittsburgh's unofficial theme song, "Won't You Be My Neighbor?"

• At 9 p.m. at Fifth Avenue Place, "Pittsburgh's Homecoming Party" will feature "traditional Pittsburgh cuisine" and music by Donora, Jim DiSpirito, Carol Lee Espy, David Hanner and friends.

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