You may remember them, a modern-day Bonnie and Clyde who hid behind suburban respectability while robbing banks in the Chicago area.
Their names were Jeff and Jill Erickson, both of whom died violently, closing the book on their sordid lives.
On Wednesday afternoon, they came back to life at a Schaumburg strip mall, where popular actor Luke Perry and actress Ashley Judd stepped into the roles of the bandit couple for a movie loosely based on the Ericksons’ lives.
Transforming the asphalt parking lot at Golf and Roselle Roads into a Hollywood set, the cast and crew filmed segments of “Normal Life.”
The movie script echoes a tumultuous and bloody chapter of northwest suburban history that began with a rash of bank robberies and ended with the capture of Jeff Erickson and an 11-milechase and shootout with Jill Erickson on Dec. 16, 1991.
Erickson, 27, of Hanover Park found herself cornered in her crashed van and shot herself to death.
The final episode took place July 20, 1993, when 33-year-old Jeff Erickson, who was being tried on bank robbery and other charges, overpowered a security guard in an elevator of the Dirksen Federal Building in Chicago and freed himself using her handcuff keys. Armed with the security guard’s weapon, he attempted to escape from the basement of the building but ended up in a shootout with other security officers.
A wounded Erickson killed two of the officers before turning the gun on himself.
Director John McNaughton, whose credits include the critically acclaimed film “Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer,” and “Mad Dog and Glory,” said his most recent production does not glorify the violent couple, but instead examines the duality of their personalities.
“It’s fascinating that a former cop (Jeff) and a lab worker (Jill) who was going to college could lead these incongruous lives,” McNaughton said.
“When we were sent this script, we wanted the film to be as realistic as possible,” added producer Steve Jones. “The northwest suburbs are where this all happened. Filming here brings the most truth.”
Executive producer John Saviano said the film is not the life story of Jeff and Jill Erickson, but admitted that the plot does bear “certain similarities.”
“It’s based on a story of a suburban couple who lead a double life,” Saviano said, as the cameras zoomed in to capture a few moments of the film that depict an FBI agent discovering an abandoned car that was used in a bank robbery. “We could have shot this anywhere, but we just thought since we were given the choice, we’d rather shoot it here, in the Chicago area.”
Sweltering outside a vacant building transformed into a “Buy-More” store, Perry positioned himself behind the wheel of a blue van as a female crew member blotted the sweat from his forehead and replenished his water supply.
As the mercury approached 90 degrees, the cast and crew munched on a spread that included an array of healthy, if not Hollywood-style snacks, such as hummus, carrot sticks and bagels as the air cracked with shouts of “Rolling,” “Action,” and “It’s a take.”
The cast and crew had set up shop in Hoffman Estates on Wednesday morning to shoot footage juxtaposed against the Hoffman Estates Police Department, moving later in the day to neighboring Schaumburg.
Security was tight to ensure that Perry, the star of the Fox Network TV series “Beverly Hills 90210,” would not be distracted by any over-enthusiastic autograph seekers.
But that didn’t stop Schaumburg resident Lynne Leiber. “I think this is just great,” said Leiber, who stripped down to a bikini top and shorts, popped open a can of beer and camped out in a lawn chair just behind the barricades. “This kind of thing just doesn’t happen around here.”
Hoffman Estates Mayor Michael O’Malley took it all in stride. “I don’t think Hollywood has anything to worry about,” he joked. “But it’s always nice to have something unusual going on in town.”
If Leiber was surprised that heartthrob Perry was just footsteps away from her neighborhood Walgreens, Suzy Kellett, the director of the Illinois Film Office, said she hopes that the filming of “Normal Life” will renew the film industry’s interest in the Chicago area.
“(T)he crews here are excellent and we have a highly respected talent pool,” said Kit Woods, associate director of the Chicago branch of the Screen Actor’s Guild. “We’re relatively new as a location, but Illinois has a lot to offer film.”
Said Schaumburg Village President Al Larson: “We’d like to see more filming out here, and we hope they will discover that Schaumburg is more than just a place to shop.”
