It’s fair to say that Oak Park native Mike Schmiedeler never knew a stranger. His ability to socialize has earned him many friends in Oak Park and across the country. (To be honest, I count myself among those friends.)
His ability to combine work and friendships has brought him surprising success throughout his career as a producer and director, including his most recent project, a documentary about Illinois rock’n’roll frontman Ike Reilly.
An executive producer for Weigel Productions in Chicago, Schmiedeler produces shows for MeTv and MeTv Toons and has worked in the past on cable series such as “Biography” for A&E, “Gangland” for History, “Inside 9/11” for National Geographic, “Sports Action Team” for the NBC Stations Group and the DIY network.
He met the musician Ike Reilly as a fan of the Libertyville rock band The Ike Reilly Assassination. Schmiedeler was soon with Reilly, his band and his family and suggested that Reilly write a documentary about his life and his music.
Schmiedeler was co-producer and co-director of the documentary film “Don’t Turn Your Back on Friday Night,” with which he hopes to introduce the musician to a wider audience.
“At age 40, Reilly landed a major record deal and bought his family a dream home,” he said. “On tour, his band became what The New York Times called ‘one of the best live bands in America.’ Despite nine albums, a cult following and immense critical acclaim, Reilly failed to achieve commercial success.”
The film is already collecting numerous awards, including the award for Best Documentary at the South African Film Festival Sound on Screen 2023, the award for Best Feature Film at the Toronto Documentary Feature & Short Film Festival and the award for Best Feature Film at the Hollywood Gold Awards.
Ahead of the film’s release on August 27, Schmiedeler answered some questions from the Wednesday Journal.
The interview has been lightly edited for clarity and length.
Q: How did you meet Ike Reilly?
A: I met Ike Reilly in 2013 through my friend (and co-writer and co-director) Michael O’Brien. O’Brien thought I would like Ike and his music, and he was right. I was intrigued by Ike and his music and confused why he wasn’t more nationally known. I met Ike and suggested him as talent for a series I was developing, but it ultimately didn’t get picked up. I stayed a fan and in touch over the years, attending many of his shows.
Q: How did Reilly become a rock and roll artist?
A: As you’ll see in the documentary, it was pretty unconventional. He learned to play harmonica and guitar early on. Ike attended Marquette, considered law school and joining the Marines, but decided to pursue music. During high school and college, he worked at a cemetery in Libertyville, and after college, he became a doorman at the Park Hyatt downtown Chicago. All the while, he was writing and playing music. At 40, he got his first record deal from Universal.
Q: What is Reilly’s music like? What venues have you seen him in?
A: I first saw Ike perform at Schuba’s (in Chicago) in 2013 with his full band, The Ike Reilly Assassination. Ike’s music is difficult to categorize, which may explain why he hasn’t had more commercial success. Some have called it post-punk blues, others Americana, and still others just rock’n’roll. One of my favorite places to see Ike play was his former home in Libertyville, which was once a hunting lodge before being converted to a home. His living room could comfortably seat over 200 people and had a small stage.
Q: What inspired you to record Reilly’s shows?
A: I knew from O’Brien and Ike himself that he had a very extensive archive of filmed shows going back quite a long way. Having an extensive archive is every documentary filmmaker’s dream and that was one of the reasons I wanted to make the film.
Q: When did you start thinking that you might make a film about Reilly?
A: I went to one of his shows at Fitzgerald’s between Christmas and New Years 2018, and Ike was telling stories and playing his music and was so entertaining and charismatic. I remember sitting there and almost being angry that I hadn’t seen him perform in over five years and he didn’t have a larger following. … I thought, ‘Someone should make a documentary about Ike to show the whole world who he is as an artist, a family man and a storyteller.’ Then I thought, ‘I would love to make that film.'”
Q: Did Reilly have to be persuaded to agree to be the subject of a documentary?
A: Yes! I wrote a treatment for the documentary, detailing my thoughts on the narrative, structure, purpose, and possible marketing ideas for the film. Ike praised my work, but said, “I’m not that interesting. Who’s going to watch a film about me?” I disagreed… Ike was still not convinced, but I persisted, and after nine months I had worn him down.
Q: What was the process like once he was on board?
A: The hardest part of any film, documentary or anything else, is usually securing financing. In this case, I contacted our investors, who are all fans of Ike, and secured financing in less than two months. So I spent about four times as much time convincing Ike to let me make a film about him as it took to get the money. We entered film festivals in 2023 and that led to our distribution deal here in 2024.
Q: It sounds like Reilly’s family plays a big role in his life. What role did they play in the film?
A: Ike’s family plays a very, very important role in both his life and the film. Ike married his high school sweetheart Kara Dean. They have four children – Hannah (Stone), Shane, Kevin and Mickey. Ike’s 97-year-old mother is also in the film and is a very important part of his life. And Ike’s grandson Riley Stone has the final line of the documentary. Ike is incredibly close to his family and we chronicled how his three sons joined his band The Ike Reilly Assassination. We also chronicled how Ike lost his house, where the children grew up and where he played so many of the famous home concerts, to the bank. So Ike’s artistic aspirations are at stake for him and his family.
Here’s how you can watch:
Movie trailer: https://vimeo.com/user15729508/iketrailer?share=copy
Streaming begins August 27 on Apple TV+, Amazon Prime Video, Fandango at Home, Google Play, Microsoft, YouTube and Vimeo.
Find On Demand: Comcast Xfinity, Dish, Spectrum, Alltice, Cox, Fios By Verizon, Frontier, SuddenLink, Mediacom and Armstrong.
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