Sam Rosen (photo from "Nobody")

By Tim Campbell


Friday is a big day for Minneapolis actor Sam Rosen. He'll be on the silver screen in the locally filmed comedy "Nobody," opening at the downtown Block E megaplex. And he'll begin shooting the drama "Stuck Between Stations," which he co-wrote with another Minneapolis native, Nat Bennett.

Rosen plays the lead opposite indie starlet Zoe Lister-Jones ("Breaking Upwards," "Arranged"). The supporting cast includes Josh Hartnett, an old pal of Rosen's from Minneapolis South High School, and Michael Imperioli (Tony's nephew Christopher on "The Sopranos").

The film is directed and produced by Twin Cities filmmaker Brady Kiernan. Here is the plot synopsis provided by the filmmakers:

"Stuck Between Stations" tells a coming-of-age/came-and-went story about Casper, a soldier haunted by the horrors of war, and Rebecca, a whip-smart grad student with a shaky future. A decade after they graduated from high school and went their separate ways, they reunite by chance and get to know each other over the course of an accidental tour of the little-known underbelly of Minneapolis. The evening's odyssey includes a bar fight, a house party, a punk-rock circus, a spontaneous burglary, a home Casper didn't know he had, and a cast of strange characters, unexpected allies and disappointing friends.

Rosen, Hartnett and Kiernan also worked together on "Nobody," with Rosen as star, Hartnett as executive producer and Kiernan as a cameraman.

Friday is the culmination of an unusually fruitful fall for Minnesota filmmakers. "A Serious Man," shot in the Twin Cities last fall by Joel and Ethan Coen with many Minnesota faces in the cast and crew, also opens that day at the Uptown. And Patrick Coyle's "Into Temptation" is wrapping up a five-week run at the Lagoon before coming out on DVD Oct. 30.

Rosen's star has been rising since he appeared off-Broadway in 2006 in the one-man show "Ham Lake," also co-written with Bennett. This year he's starred in two other indie films besides "Nobody" – the Minnesota-filmed "Four Boxes" and the anti-romance "Breaking Upwards" (with Lister-Jones).