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Home  / News & Publications /  Michigan Catholic News / 2009 /  Giving life to Leonie

by Kristin Lukowski of The Michigan Catholic
Published July 24, 2009

Kristin Lukowski | The Michigan Catholic Cast and crew, including Mary Rose Maher, far left, who portrays Leonie, and director Joe Maher, second from left, review a just-shot scene on a monitor. Scenes from the movie “Leonie!”, about one of St. Therese of Lisieux’s sisters, were shot at a historic house in Romeo.

Romeo - Once Barbara Middleton read about the little-known sister of St. Therese of Lisieux, she knew she had to share Leonie Martin's life with others.

That project has developed into a 90-minute feature film involving 100 actors, dozens of crew members, a Romeo neighborhood, a veteran Hollywood filmmaker, a new production company and, most of all, the grace of God. "I have never been involved in something more fulfilling, and rewarding, and exciting," said director Joe Maher, referring to both the film, "Leonie!", and the musicals he's directed at Assumption (Grotto) Parish, Detroit, his home parish. "Nothing I ever did compares to the greatness of these things."

Kristin Lukowski | The Michigan Catholic Director of photography Luke Kuschel sets up the shot of Zelie Martin, the mother of Leonie and Therese Martin, played by Carrie Kot of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish in Emmett, as director Joe Maher watches on the monitor. Filming of the movie “Leonie!”, about St. Therese of Lisieux’s difficult older sister, will take place throughout the summer.

For the last week or so, the "greatness" Maher spoke of was taking place at a historic house in Romeo, already furnished with family pieces of the period, after filming earlier this month in a Warren school house. Middleton, who's the film's executive producer, talks of how the production has come together: People lined up to participate in auditions; she spotted the house on a drive around Romeo, and homeowner Diane Jesmore happened to be home that day; a neighbor offers to hold off mowing her lawn until shooting was done for the morning; a Lutheran church up the block gave the cast and crew full use of their basement.

Middleton, a member of SS. Cyril and Methodius Parish, Sterling Heights, said once she read about Leonie Martin, "she captured my heart." "I was so taken by St. Therese's sister," she said, and the problems she had - fevers as a child, learning disabilities, fits of anger, illness. "She had a lot of struggles."

Kristin Lukowski | The Michigan Catholic Barbara Middleton, executive producer of “Leonie!”, stands outside the historic Romeo house where portions of the movie were filmed.

Now, families with troubled children pray to her daily for her intercession. "Her life touched me," she said. "Once I read about her, I decided we're going to do a story on Leonie."

So little is known about Leonie Martin, the book the production crew worked from, "Leonie Martin: A Difficult Life," had to be ordered from Ireland.

That lack of information doesn't stop Mary Rose Maher, a member of Assumption Grotto, who plays Leonie, from becoming the character during taping. "When I am in the habit, it's just a total transformation," she said. "I feel tranquility and peace."

As she's filming, she said, she looks to Leonie for her struggle to keep on going, since Leonie entered a religious order a total of four times before finding a fit for life. She never gave up, "no matter how much people told her no," Mary Rose Maher said.

Paige Pilarski, who plays Sr. Jean Marguerite, a friend of Leonie, agrees: "It's not only what she believed, but what she knew was God's will," she said. "She wasn't going to let anything on Earth stop her from that."

Kristin Lukowski | The Michigan Catholic “Leonie!” director Joe Maher discusses a scene with Carrie Kot, who portrays Zelie Martin, mother of St. Therese of Lisieux, Loenie, and three other surviving girls.

Pilarski, also a member of SS. Cyril and Methodius, said the movie has been a spiritual journey for her, too. "I am just praying that I can adequately portray my character," she said - and also for the cast, crew and everyone else supporting the film.

While the filming may have a more religious tone than a secular production - Middleton said the cast and crew has offered up the movie to the Martin parents, Louis and Zelie, who were beatified Oct. 19, 2008 - there's still much laughter upstairs in the Jesmore house. Joe Maher jokes with his cast and crew, especially when things are going slowly: "My arthritis is acting up, I've been sitting here so long!" he says. When a piece of equipment falls to the ground, he announces that his ticker doesn't need that. But he shifts easily to a more professional aura, too, giving advice about where he wants actors to look, how much emotion to use, and how the lighting in a particular scene should be.

Kristin Lukowski | The Michigan Catholic Jacquelyne Tyson, a makeup artist, ages J.J. Przewozniak, of SS. Cyril and Methodius Parish, Sterling Heights, who portrays the family doctor.

The "growing up scenes," as Middleton called them, will be shot in the house, built in the late 1870s. Jesmore said she's had to do some moving around of things, such as hiding electrical outlets and her paperback books, and she's intrigued by the project and what it means to families.

"A lot of people with troubled children feel like it's a modern-day issue," she said, even though the Martin family's faith in God helped get them through Leonie's troubles even 100 years ago.

Jesmore's house is full of antiques and family pieces of furniture, many of which are being used in the film. The production team is also relying on Sue Kane of the Romeo Historical Society and Craig Busch, the "Leonie!" team's historian.

Kristin Lukowski | The Michigan Catholic Emily Zielinski, 7, of St. Isidore Parish, Macomb Township, shows off her official cast badge.

Emily Zielinski, 7, a member of St. Isidore Parish, Macomb Township, played a school girl when the movie was filming at the Warren school house. Although she was done filming the week prior, Zielinski stopped by the Romeo church basement to see her friends.

She said the most fun part of filming was getting her hair and makeup done and dressing in the costumes. "I was screaming," she said, of her role. "I was trying to get the book back from Leonie." (Leonie had climbed on a desk with a book, causing a ruckus in the classroom.)

Zielinski has had a taste of movie-making before: She made a home movie starring her mom.

Joe Maher, who also wrote the script, is sending taped material to Chicago to be edited every night, he explained. The production crew is hoping to finish shooting by the end of August, then dedicate September and October to editing, and have it released by next year. Middleton said a distributor is interested.

Kristin Lukowski | The Michigan Catholic Carrie Kot of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish, Emmett, portraying Zelie Martin, and Jeff Barron of Our Lady of Sorrows Parish, Farmington, portraying Louis Martin, discuss a scene with director Joe Maher, of Assumption (Grotto) Parish, Detroit.

Maher is originally from Michigan, but worked in California's entertainment industry until his father died in 1999 and he returned to the area. He'd loved his work, but was ready to accept that his show business work was over. Back in Michigan, he found work in high-tech internet learning, and with Opus Bono Sacerdotii, a Catholic charity that finds "solutions for the proper care and treatment of priests who are the most troubled, tempted, discouraged and suffering in their personal lives and priestly ministry," according to the organization's Web site.

One of the musical productions at Assumption Grotto was where Middleton first saw Mary Rose Maher act, and pegged her for the role of Leonie, without realizing she was Joe Maher's daughter. As luck, or providence, would have it, she still needed a director.

Joe Maher said after finding out the project had no money, no crew and no cast, he thought to himself, "We should be doing this because it's impossible." Which is something he tells his cast members: "It's much more fun to do the impossible." Because then, God intervenes.

The project came out of the Holy Trinity Apostolate, which has put on conferences throughout the archdiocese, Middleton explained. But over the last few years, she was considering where the apostolate was heading, and acted on the chance to apply for a grant for the movie.

In fact, the production company founded for "Leonie!" is named Holy Trinity Productions, LLC, paralleling the name of the archdiocese's apostolate.

She said her Catholic school upbringing, and the nuns behind it, probably contributed to her wanting to honor the saints of today and tomorrow. "We need heroes," she said. "Hopefully, God willing, this will be the first of many projects."

Joe Maher laughs when recalling that when he moved back to Michigan, at the insistence of his wife, he figured he'd be able to take it easier. But "God had a different plan," he said, adding with a chuckle: "And my wife had a different plan.

"God has intervened all the way down the road," he said. "We're becoming a big family. People have helped us beyond what we could have expected."