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Local Filmmaker To Produce Film In Wales, Pittsburgh

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- A one-room studio in Bridgeville seems an unlikely place to generate a special movie that has support from the Welsh government in Great Britain, a true story produced by this yinzer who ended up playing a popular team sport while a student in Wales.

As the movie preview states, "Rugby is the greatest game in the world, and we are among the best at it. We have the greatest men and women who play this sport and this movie is all about -- hang on -- there's a mistake. It says American football here. What?"

Every Steelers fan knows what American football looks like, maybe a Rugby ball too.

And in this story based out of Pittsburgh, the two of them will be brought together in Wales.

"Wales is kind of like the Pittsburgh of the United Kingdom to me," Michael Capozzoli told KDKA money editor Jon Delano.

Capozzoli, owner and executive producer of CAPture Production Studios, is spearheading this film called "The Thunderers." He played football in Wales 20 years ago.

"There were so many different rules there for playing the game. You weren't allowed to taunt, you're not allowed to swear. After the game, you have to take the other team out to dinner," recalls Capozzoli.

This comedy features sports rivalry, college love, and, of course, plenty of drinking, and two young British actors: the Postlethwaite twins, now in a BBC television series called Peaky Blinders.

In The Thunderers, Matthew will play the American hero and he's studying Pittsburghese by watching Pittsburgh Dad.

"We've actually been observing the Pittsburgh Dad on his YouTube channel," Matthew reported via Skype. "He's fantastic."

Twin brother Jeffrey will likely be cast as a football player, a game he tried to play in college.

"I was a fullback and we didn't actually win any games," Jeffrey admitted.

Capozzoli will work with Pinewood Studios in Wales, famous for Superman and James Bond, and he hopes Pittsburghers will contribute financial support to The Thunderers at www.indiegogo.com.

Filming in Wales and Pittsburgh begins this fall, and many Pittsburgh locals will be needed as extras for a bar fight and crowd scenes.

The casting call will begin in august, for filming in October. You can find out more at CaptureStudiosInternational.com.

"You can not beat a Pittsburgh crowd, Pittsburgh actors," says Capozzoli.

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