Ridgewood October 27, 2010 THE VILLADOM TIMES II • Page 9 Michael Mercurio: From Ridgewood to Hollywood point, reached a breaking point with society and the system that proverbially abandoned him,” Mercurio said. “For me, playing a character that agrees to assist in a domestic act of terror simply reflects the growing resentment between the powerless and those who control what we eat, read, watch, and listen to.” Mercurio was born in Columbus, Ohio and moved to New York when he was five. When he was a teenager, his family moved to Ridgewood, where he attended Ridgewood High School from 1986 until 1988. While in Ridgewood, his primary interest was art, but that changed when he was in his early twenties. Moving to Chicago to study acting, he completed an acting conservatory and was offered a scholarship with the Chicago Actor’s Studio. While in Chicago, he made his off-Broadway theatre debut in Jorge Aviles’ “Nicas,” playing the lead role as a gay man who returns to Nicaragua to confront his past. (continued on page 15) Michael Mercurio A disheveled man carefully assembles an explosive device. As he connects wires and screws pieces of metal together, he speaks to another person in the room, whose face is unseen by the audience. “Once it’s activated, you’ve got two hours to get where you need to be,” he says. “Wherever you are, it’s going to go off. The mechanism can’t be stopped.” It is a chilling moment in the new suspense film “Elevator,” which recently finished shooting in Hollywood with an ensemble cast that includes actor Michael Mercurio, formerly of Ridgewood. Mercurio plays the role of the bomb-maker, a shadowy figure who has been recruited to help someone commit an act of terrorism in New York, for reasons that later become disturbingly clear. The plan backfires when the terrorist and the bomb become trapped with eight other people in a Wall Street elevator, with no rescue in sight. “What intrigued me about the story were the parallels between the characters’ problems and their relationships and what occurs in our society,” Mercurio said. “It is a microcosm of the present environment that we are currently experiencing in America.” The people in the elevator include an ethically challenged Wall Street executive, a pregnant woman whose boyfriend has left her, the cheating ex-boyfriend, a TV reporter looking for a story, a Muslim security guard who dislikes Jews, and the Jewish comedian who does not trust the Muslim. “We all agreed that the bomb-maker should not be portrayed as the traditional, dark antagonist, but someone who has real emotional connections, and yet at some Police department investigates assault The Ridgewood Police Department is investigating an incident involving a Wayne resident who was reportedly assaulted by two juveniles at a Ridgewood High School football game and required treatment for his injuries at Valley Hospital. Ridgewood High School lost a football game to Wayne Hills 28-0 at the time of the assault on Oct. 15. Police officers on duty declined to comment on the extent of the Wayne resident’s injuries. The matter is under investigation by the Ridgewood Detective Bureau. Officer Shayne James reported that on the same day, the sinks in the men’s room at Veterans Field, a short distance from the Ridgewood High School football field, had been damaged. The Ridgewood Detective Bureau is also investigating this incident.