The film stars Brendan Hangauer, of Fourth of July. Toplikar says Hangauer plays a musician who falls for another musician at an open mic night. He then spends the rest of his days trying to find her at various open mic nights around town. The inspiration for the film came to Toplikar after watching Fourth of July videos on YouTube. “I’ve been friends with Brendan Hangauer for a while now, we used to be neighbors,” says Toplikar. “We’ve always gotten along real well, and I always thought he’s not just a good musician, but an interesting guy. So I thought he would play well in a movie.”
A unique position
We, as Lawrencians, should have reason to get excited that (of all the filmmakers out there) Toplikar is the one tackling the Lawrence music scene. He grew up in Lawrence and spent several years working at Liberty Hall, and in recent years he spends his time working on the set of Breaking Bad. But as soon as he gets a free moment, he makes the trek back to Larryville.
After this week, Toplikar heads back to Albuquerque for a few projects before returning to work on the set of “Breaking Bad.” During that time, he’s going to edit the movie and hopefully be able to return home for the holidays with a little Christmas gift for Lawrence and a showing at Liberty Hall. But he’s not leaving without indulging in a Cowboy Indian Bear set on Friday. Shooting may be wrapping up, but Toplikar is far from finished when it comes to spreading his love of the scene to his crew, most of whom followed him down to Lawrence from Albuquerque. “I get to show them my hometown and the music scene here, and they’re all getting very excited about it, talking like ‘Oh we should come back and do music videos for these bands,'” says Toplikar. “That’s kind of a really cool thing for me.”
It’s kind of a really cool thing for us, too.
by Fally Afani