Spielberg Summers in Chicago

Chicago will have the pleasure of Steven Spielberg in town this summer to shoot the film The Chicago 7.  After all these many years there is a film being done about the 7 accused of inciting the riot during the Democratic Convention in 1968.  So far the only definite person cast is Sasha Baron Cohen as Abbie Hoffman.

To think they will possibly be filming in Grant Park, which has changed considerably since 1968, to have those days relived to tell that story.  All that action that took place across from the Chicago Hilton and Towers, which at that time was the Conrad Hilton Hotel.  At the risk of really remembering, I was in another part of Grant Park waiting on Sly and the Family Stone to do another free concert – which they did not show up for that one either.  Never knew if Sly got wind of the situation going on in a  different area of the park and decided to stay clear.

It has got me thinking who will be cast as Bobby Seale, being bound, gagged and chained to a chair in Judge Julius Hoffman’s courtroom. That is something you don’t easily forget and I can almost see Philip Seymour Hoffman (and do you think there is a distant relation) cast as the bit off Judge Hoffman.

It will be good to have Spielberg back in Chicago to help the economy and give those in the city work.  Spielberg was here once before to be honored by the Chicago International Film Festival.  In 2006 the Festival honored Spielberg with a lifetime achievement award and Tom Cruise stopped in to help celebrate.

I’m looking forward to a Spielberg sighting and maybe doing a bit as an extra, you never know what can happen during a summer in Chicago.  I’m ready.