Press

In new movie, Quincy comic Steve Sweeney and director Lisa Aimola are ready for their close ups, by Dana Barbuto The Patriot Ledger

Steve Sweeney, getting in and out of character, By Nick A. Zaino III,  September 5, 2018 (Photo by David Elmes) Boston Globe

The 19th edition of the Boston Comedy Festival kicks off Sept. 11 with the premiere of Boston comic Steve Sweeney’s locally shot feature film, “Sweeney Killing Sweeney,” followed by a Q&A with the filmmakers and comedians. The festival runs through Sept. 15 with such big-name stand-ups as Jim Norton, Emo Philips, and Ophira Eisenberg, plus themed shows and a stand-up comedy contest. The Globe sat down with Sweeney this week to discuss what viewers can expect from his film. 

Q. What is “Sweeney Killing Sweeney?”

A. So the basic story is this: HBO comes to town. There’s an audition kind of thing, and I’ve been doing this stuff for a long time. HBO wants me, but they don’t want the characters I do. They’re too local for them. So I make a decision, I say I’m gonna do it and I dump the characters. But then the characters try to kill me. In a way, it’s like “The Fugitive.” Except I have four people chasing me and I’m all four people.

Q. Who are the characters?

A. Mary Ellen McCarthy, she’s an elderly Dorchester woman. Jimmy Yanell, who’s a toothless Boston city worker . . . sweeps the streets. Marshall Mellow, who is a Cambridge intellectual politico. Then there’s Fitzy, who’s a potbellied ex-softball player, angry, opinionated talk-radio listener. They’re all trying to kill me.

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Wicked Local Saugus, by Mike Gaffney,  August 8, 2017

Film crews descended upon Kowloon and Victor’s Italian Restaurant the last week to shoot scenes for “Sweeney Killing Sweeney,” a comedy starring Steve Sweeney and a number of other Boston-area based comedians. Sweeney joined Director Lisa Aimola along with the rest of cast and crew at Kowloon Aug. 2-3 for the daylong shoots. Filming had begun on the movie July 30 at Victor’s Italian Restaurant in Saugus. Kowloon and Victor’s Italian Restaurant are two well-known establishments featured in the movie shoot, which will stretch for 16 days at restaurants and comedy clubs on the North Shore and the Boston area.

The plot of “Sweeney Killing Sweeney” revolves around Sweeney as an aging standup comic who gets a gig hosting a national cable show in Los Angeles. To take the job he must stop portraying a handful of colorful characters that are part of his standup routine. “He decides to stop doing the characters and the characters come to life to try to kill him,” Aimola explained.

Aimola, the 2016 winner of the Best Women in Film Award for “Love Unlocked” and the director of Boston Film Festival finalist “Probation,” said it is a dream come true to be able to take the screenplay from writer Bill Braudis and translate it to her first feature length film. “I read the story and fell in love with it right away,” Aimola said. “What grabbed me is how it’s a character-driven story about the fear of success and what happens when the characters in your head come to life.”  Read More

Boston Voyager,  December 18, 2017

Today we’d like to introduce you to Lisa Aimola.

Lisa, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I was a marketing executive for 19 years & when my son was a toddler & first home from South Korea, I spent a year in Harvard University’s Continuing Education writing program during his naps and after his bedtime crafting my first feature-length screenplay. The script got some notoriety as a finalist in the American Accolades Writing Contest in Los Angeles but working in a different industry and raising a young family with my husband, Chris, kept the dream far from reach at the time. So 7 yrs. ago, my friend Sorboni Banerjee (a former Boston news anchor) & I wanted to take control of our creative stories and began writing and producing a series of short films.

Thinking back, we laugh because our first film had a scene with dogs and we almost forgot to cast dogs. But when we scrambled at our local Squantum Point Park to find some, who showed up but Steve Sweeney walking his dogs. I only knew him as a local comedian but he volunteered to help that day and who knew he would be the star of my first feature-length film SWEENEY KILLING SWEENEY all these years later. I still consider myself a huge fan of his but I also get to call him a friend thanks to this project. Read More

Dorchester Reporter, by Elana Aurise  September 7, 2017

Dot native Lisa Aimola grew up on Fuller Street re-enacting scenes from “Charlie’s Angels” with her friends. Today, she is still directing the action — only she is working from behind the camera. Over the summer, Aimola has been directing her first feature-length film, a comedy starring Steve Sweeney, the Boston stand-up legend, and an all-star cast of local comedians, including Lenny Clarke and Tony V.

Aimola, who works as the director of community preservation for the city of Quincy, has earned a reputation as a rising star in Boston’s independent film scene. She was a finalist in the Boston Film Festival awards lineup for her short film “Probation,” and last year she won the Best Women in Film Award for “Love Unlocked.” Her latest project – “Sweeney Killing Sweeney” – has been shot over the last month at various locations around Boston, including the Public Garden, Kowloon’s, and Laugh Boston.

The editing process has already begun and the film is expected to be finished by late fall. Aimola hopes to hold the premiere in early winter. Her next project is in its final draft phase, and she plans to share it with her new team members once it is finished. The 51-year-old Aimola connected with Sweeney seven years ago during a chance encounter in Quincy’s Squantum Point Park. “My best friend and I were shooting this short film and it was a scene where we needed a dog and we forgot the dog,” she said. “We saw a man walking in the distance with a dog and he came over and agreed to help, and that man was comedian Steve Sweeney. Seven years later, here we are.”  Read More