Mike Sciacca
Not many people find their passion in life.
Rocky Costanzo is one of the lucky few, who has.
The Huntington Beach native has made a successful segue from child
actor to that of his current role: director/producer. He stepped from
behind the cameras this week, however, and back into the camera's
spotlight, as he takes his first feature film, Return to Innocence, to
the AngelCiti Film Festival & Market in Chicago.
Costanzo's passion is to make films that encompass the human spirit,
covering a wide range of humanity: from the good to the bad to the
enlightening, to subject matter that at times, has been considered taboo.
"Return to Innocence," a black and white piece with a running time of
98 minutes, is based on the controversial, true story novel written by
Gary M. Frazier. It is the story of a child psychologist whose life is
turned upside down when he is accused of sexually molesting a boy under
his care. The low-budget film has garnered promising reviews and is a
tale of love, betrayal, forgiveness and redemption. In addition, it
covers court proceedings involving the prosecution of a child sex abuse
case.
The criminal court reenactment was filmed at Santa Ana Municipal
Court.
"I had a little trepidation about the subject matter and wondered how
the public would react to the film," he said. "But, we needed a film to
get the company, and me as a filmmaker, noticed. We have been noticed and
hope to get noticed even more as we attempt to get our film accepted on
the national tour circuit."
The film's subject matter does seem heavy fare for Costanzo, 28, who,
for three years, acted on the hit television series, "The Wonder Years."
Other acting credits include "Evening Shade" and "What's Love Got to Do
With It." But it is a far cry from the time when Costanzo used to make
home videos with childhood friends.
He began acting at age 12, and it was while being on those sets,
Costanzo said, that his interests shifted from being in front of the
camera to working behind it.
"Watching them set the lighting and cameras, the workings behind the
scenes, those things really intrigued me," he said. "After 'The Wonder
Years' series ended, I was going out on cattle calls. Endless cattle
calls. That was my turning point."
Costanzo, a 1991 Marina High School graduate who said he "surfed the
waves and is very proud to have grown up in Huntington Beach," went on to
attend the Hollywood Film Institute for a year, then created his own
production company, LifeLine Entertainment.
