By Steve Jones • Special to The Courier-Journal •
October 27, 2010

An international treasure hunt has led to New Albany, and young sleuths are on the case to track down a priceless Russian antique before a famous jewel thief gets his hands on it. That's the plot of local filmmaker Tom Whitus' new children's movie “Sam Steele and the Crystal Chalice,” which was filmed this month in Southern Indiana and Louisville. It's the sequel to Whitus' “Sam Steele and the Jr. Detective Agency,” which was filmed in Des Moines, Iowa, last year and will be released on DVD in January. “The Crystal Chalice” is being shot at sites around the area, including Aunt Artie's Antique Mall in New Albany, the Jefferson Villa Motel in Jeffersonville, Providence High School in Clarksville and the Seelbach Hilton in Louisville.

The film's stars include Kevin Sorbo of TV's “Hercules” fame and Dee Wallace, who played Mary, the mother, in “E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial.” It's scheduled for DVD release in 12-18 months, maintaining the momentum of what is hoped to be a popular first film, and a “Sam Steele III” is already planned. Whitus, who owns Silver Hills Pictures, named after the New Albany subdivision where he lives, was eager to make the sequel in his hometown instead of Iowa. “The thing about shooting out of town for me is you have to travel a lot just to do location work,” he said. “You have to be out of town for months at a time when you're shooting and away from family and friends and your home. I just kind of got tired of it. ... The thing about Midwestern towns is they have a similar vibe. I figured if I was going to shoot in a town in the Midwest, why not shoot in Louisville or New Albany?”

Sound technician JohnBen Lacy is ready for the scene. (By Nina Greipel, Special to the Courier-Journal) Click Thumbnail For Larger Size

Whitus said the crew was scheduled for 12 days of shooting, wrapping up last Saturday. They'll return for a few days in a month or so to accommodate one of the teenage stars, Katherine McNamara, who is currently appearing on Broadway in “A Little Night Music.” Aunt Artie's owner Judy Gwinn said Whitus recently was shopping in the antique mall when he asked if he could use the location for his movie. "We have a nice antique mall, and I'm thrilled to death that people will see this,” Gwinn said. “It'll be exciting.”

The plot beginning is based around a true story of when Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev visited the Midwest in the 1950s to study agriculture practices, Whitus said. Sam Steele Jr., the young detective, is assigned a paper to research his trip. Steele learns that one of Khrushchev's valets might have placed the priceless crystal chalice artifact in Khrushchev's luggage and it ended up hidden in the area for decades