Award-winning filmmakers now Idyllwild residents

David Jerome
Correspondent

Donal Brophy and Emrhys Cooper are both actors, writers and directors, who in the last year have moved to Idyllwild and produced an award-winning comedy, “The Shuroo Process.” The two principals of Idyllwild Pictures both have credits and resumes too extensive for this brief bit, as do all the members of the production team and the cast. But if you are a film lover you will recognize the faces.

The two met at Donal’s Highlands Whiskey Bar in New York’s West Village, one of his handful of hospitality ventures during a break in his acting career. Emrhys is from the United Kingdom (yhe name is Welsh) and Donal is Irish, a proud Dubliner.

Emrhys (“Desperate Housewives,” “Person of Interest,” “Mama Mia!” and as director in “Trophy Boy”) has been a visitor to Idyllwild for 15 years, and during the crazy, anxious time of the pandemic, found refuge in these mountains camping alone and hiking. During a long hike to Suicide Rock, he decided he had to move here. By mid-August, he and Donal had bought a place, and by Halloween, they had made the move from Los Angeles.

While Emrhys was finishing the edit on “The Shuroo Process,” Donal, in LA, had become “blocked” trying to write his new project and could not make progress turning it into a script. But as soon as the pair had relocated, the work started to flow and they knew they had something. Here they say they feel “lucky to be part of a community,” and look forward to working on projects that have substance with local collaborators.

The film is an ensemble piece, and the production mirrored the “process” depicted; the actors lived together at a bucolic compound in the gorgeous Catskill contains, day in and day out, got to know one another and created a purposeful short-term community.

The premise follows New York bad-girl writer Schaeffer Parker — Fiona Dourif known for “Tenet,” “The Purge” and “The Stand” — as her self-destructive lifestyle drives off her partner, torpedoes her work and terrifies her friends. One friend who has stuck with her mentions a new celebrity guru whose process is helping people turn the page, move beyond old habits and find themselves. Schaeffer comes around to the idea having nothing to lose.

Through group exercises that will be familiar to anyone who has been to a spiritual or personal growth workshop or retreat, the characters lay bare the universality of trauma, grief and denial.

A group of strangers, each seeking a personal reckoning or liberation, meeting and sharing their deepest darkest secrets, will often find what they seek. The “guru” in charge doesn’t have to be qualified; even a charlatan can achieve results with which many participants will be satisfied. And guru Shuroo fits the bill. Red flags wave, alarms sound, our “BS” detectors go off (if we haven’t removed the batteries.)

Shuroo fits Donal (“Blue Bloods,” “Unforgettable Savage Revenge”) like a glove; it is an actor’s dream role, all sly charm and charisma, deft skill with layers of dissimulation, and constant changes of tone from ascetic enlightened “master” to indulgent hedonist, from friend to fraud. From the moment we first meet him we know something is off but are constantly having to recalibrate our estimation of him with each new twist.

The characters each find something they need within themselves, and each other, although it is not always what they thought they were seeking. And we find out quite a bit about Shuroo as the process unfolds, or goes off the rails. In the end, there is the matter of a day of reckoning for the charlatan … or is there?

These mountain highways have a “cameo” appearance in the film as a stand-in for the winding roads of upstate New York, a role they have played before. Having wrapped the filming on location and begun editing, they needed to interweave sweeping long shots of Schaeffer’s voyage to the retreat. Drone “pick up” footage of Highway 243 saved the day, and the budget.

“The Shuroo Process” premiered in America at the Woodstock Film Festival in New York as an “Official Selection,” meaning it was chosen by the judges for its artistic merits. (Some films are shown at festivals as marketing, so not all films “premiered at” big events are created equally.)

The UK Film Festival in London gave it the same distinction. Awards include Best Feature Film at New York’s Big Apple Film Festival and Best Director in an International Feature at the Benaras Film Festival in India. It will be released in theaters in 10 cities and Video On Demand through Gravitas Ventures on Wednesday, Nov. 24.