MSU alumni David O'Malley lives in California now, but he was back in Michigan to shoot his feature length film "Kalamazoo?" in, you guessed it, Kalamazoo. The film premiered in its title town on April 6. "Kalamazoo?" will be opening throughout Michigan soon. O'Malley took some time to chat with The State News about the film.

State News: What is the film about?

David O'Malley: It's a story about three women who returned to Kalamazoo for their 10th class reunion and end up dealing with the predictions they had made for their futures when they were in school, and the fact that they have not been able to live up to what they had predicted for themselves. It's all about a time capsule that was opened at the reunion. They don't want it opened because they haven't fulfilled their predicted hopes and dreams. I look at it as a drama with comedy — it's both. It deals with some really interesting and important issues and at the same time it's very funny. It's a 'dramedy.'

SN: As a man, what motivated you to do a whole film about women?

DO: It was interesting, the screen play was written by Joanna (Clare Scott) who is from Kalamazoo, and her whole story was influenced by friends that she had. She felt that a male director would help give it a broader perspective and not just limit it to a female point of view, and open it up to all audiences. It was helpful, I enjoyed working with women. It was a female-driven project, you could call it a chick flick but it's amazing how many men are coming out of the theater saying it's an amazing film, and I think that's because there was a male director.

SN: Did you face any challenges while filming?

DO: It all went surprisingly well. The city was so great to us. Everyone welcomed us and gave us complete cooperation. It was one of the most productive film shoots I've ever worked on. It was a great pleasure working in Michigan, that's why we want to come back. It's hard enough to make a movie and it's great when people are friendly.

SN: Would you say this film is focused on a particular group, say middle-aged women, since that's what the story focuses on?

DO: It does appeal to everyone, and it appeals to all ages. It has a lot of aspects in it. What appeals to most people is, it deals with questions that everybody faces. When you're getting out of high school, you think you know what your life is going to be but after 10 years, you discover all bets are off. A lot of things affect your life, and as we say in the film, 10 years go by so fast. The tag line for the film is 'you can't run away from your future.' Everybody deals with that, old people have already dealt with it, kids are going to deal with it, so it appeals to everyone.

The film's completion was the end of a seven-year process, but the filming was done in 80 days. The budget for "Kalamazoo?" was almost $2 million, all raised in the Kalamazoo area. O'Malley is currently finishing up his second film shot in Kalamazoo, a supernatural thriller called "The Dread."

For more information on the film, visit www.kalamazoothemovie.com.