By LUIS FIELDMAN
Mary Rohlich, who grew up in Northampton, has long had a passion for movie-making. Determined to make it in the business, Rohlich made her way in 2003 to Hollywood, where she has since produced a number of movies, including her first, “Four Christmases,” released in 2008.
Now, Rohlich, who graduated from Northampton High School in 1999, is a co-producer of an award-winning documentary film about former NFL player Steve Gleason’s life since being diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
In 2011, Gleason was diagnosed with ALS. He was 34.
A New Orleans Saints safety from 2000 to 2008, Gleason is perhaps best remembered by fans for his blocked punt on the night the Superdome reopened after Hurricane Katrina in 2006. The play was immortalized in 2012, with a statue depicting that block erected outside the stadium.
Gleason is one of some 20,000 Americans afflicted with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, which affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, causing muscles to waste away from lack of nourishment, according to information provided on the ALS Association website, www.alsa.org.
The disease gained national attention in 1939 when then-New York Yankees first baseman Lou Gehrig was diagnosed. According to the ALS Association, there is no cure and no treatment that will halt or reverse the disease.
Even before the diagnosis, Gleason and his wife, artist Michel Varisco, pregnant with their first child, had begun to record a series of video diaries for their unborn son, Rivers. .
“It’s a weird thing,” Rohlich said in a phone recent interview from her home in Los Angeles. “It’s like he knew there was some reason to film.”
After learning of the diagnosis, the couple continued to film, primarily as a way to communicate with their child, Rohlich said. Gleason knew that by the time his son was old enough to have a conversation with him, he wouldn’t be able to speak.
Those videos form the core of “Gleason,” a film that details the growing challenges the couple faced — from the former NFL star’s struggles to simply move his fingers to the Herculean efforts to the raise their son, Rivers, now 4.
“We are able to see his story, his progression over the years and it has a really big impact on being able to understand his journey,” Rohlich said.
“Gleason” was released in theaters on July 29 after premiering at the Sundance Film Festival in January and winning awards at the Seattle International film festival, SXSW Film Festival in Austin, Texas, and the Montclair Film Festival in New Jersey.
It will be shown through Thursday at Amherst Cinema.
While at Northampton High School, Rohlich played drums in the school band, rowed crew for the Blue Devils, and always had an interest in films, her father, Tom Rohlich, said in a phone interview last week.
“She has worked very hard in what is not an easy road, where there is lots of talented people, and found success,” he said.
Tom and Wakako Rohlich still live in the house they moved to during their daughter’s sophomore year at NHS.
After graduating, Rohlich went to the University of Wisconsin, where she majored in communication arts. The first film she made in college was a documentary and since then, she says, filmmaking has been a passion.
In 2002, during the summer before her senior year, she landed a summer internship in Hollywood, working in film development at MGM, where her duties included reading screenplays and offering the writers insights and critiques about their work.
“At the time I was interested in film but I did not realize what the job opportunities or possibilities were until I came to Los Angeles for my internship,” Rohlich said.
As soon as she graduated, in 2003, Rohlich headed back to Los Angeles to continue her work in film development, this time at Columbia Pictures. Then, in 2008, she landed that first job as a producer with “Four Christmases.”
As a producer, she said, “I love the fact that you get to be involved in every aspect of production and development and filmmaking.”
Today, her production credits also include the theatrical films “Freakonomics,” “Horrible Bosses,” and “Identity Thief.” But, she says, documentary film is her favorite genre to work in.
Highs and lows
Rohlich became involved with “Gleason” after her husband, Clay Tweel, signed on to direct.
According to information provided by the movie’s production and distribution company, Open Road Films, Tweel received an email in 2014 from his agent that included a link to a teaser, compiled using some of Gleason’s video diary. Moved by the footage, Tweel raced to New Orleans to talk to Gleason about directing a documentary film that would be based on those home movies.
Time was of the essence: Those with Lou Gehrig’s disease have a life expectancy of five years after diagnosis, according to alsa.org. Gleason had been told he only had two to five years to live.
“We felt a huge responsibility to tell their story in an honest, but respectful way,” Rohlich said. “We had total access [to the family’s lives] and wanted to make sure they were comfortable.”
Rohlich and Tweel, along with a team of filmmakers, including editors and co-producers, began to shape the 1,300 hours of raw footage, dating from 2011 to 2014, into the movie that is an intimate look into the family’s lives over the course of four years. Rohlich said the couple wanted to capture and share the realities of what the disease can do to people trying to live a normal life.
“It was important for Steve and Michel to show not just the positive, overcoming aspects, but to show the low moments and hardships, because that was their reality,” Rohlich said. “That is what has made this journey so powerful. … It feels very much like you are a part of their life as opposed to peeking into certain moments in their life.”
As one of the film’s seven producers, Rohlich took on a number of roles, including creating the story arc for the film and making sure that the themes and characters in the story fit into the overall big picture.
“The thing with documentaries that’s different [from other films],” Rohlich said, “is that there is no script to work from. … Part of it is being able to work with a lot of the other people involved in the project.”
Gleason today
Rohlich says Gleason’s condition is fairly stable. Now 39, he uses an electric wheelchair, a voice synthesizer controlled by his eye movements and a ventilator to help him breathe.
He’s gone to the Sundance and Seattle film festivals to promote the film, to meet and talk to people, and he still takes Rivers to school every day.
Steve is relentless, Rohlich says, and has never given up in his fight with ALS.
“He’s always been a larger -than-life character,” she said. “With ALS, he was going to fight for his life.”
“Gleason” will be shown at Amherst Cinema, through Thursday, at 1:50 p.m. To reserve tickets, visit amherstcinema.com or call 253-2549.