Local Man Transforms Drug Past Into Movie
'Oxy-Morons' To Finish Post-Production In January
POSTED: 2:22 pm EST November 6,
2009
UPDATED: 4:25 pm EST November 10,
2009
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BOSTON -- A former player in the local OxyContin drug trade is transforming his life of crime into a movie, shot in Boston.You may not know Johnny Hickey's name, but law enforcement sure does. For years, he was deeply involved in Charlestown's drug trade."My generation took it to another level, stopped robbing banks and armored trucks and started robbing pharmacies," Hickey said.Hickey's was a life of crime, driven by addiction from OxyContin to heroin."First, it's just fun; you're getting high; it's euphoria. And it's like, oh my god, if I don't have it, I'm going to die," Hickey said. "Before you knew it, me, my friends were doing whatever they got to do to support the habit of this pill."
Local Man Transforms Drug Past Into Movie | MySpace: OxyMorons Movie | OxyMoronsMovie.comHickey said eventually, the drug consumed every part of his life."You need that drug to function, you need that drug to get up and take a shower, to put your shoes on," he said.Hickey survived the local streets, prison and almost getting killed."I got thrown of an 80-foot cliff, for real, on rocks in Quincy. I woke up seven days later in a coma," Hickey said.Now 30, Hickey is clean, has a college degree and is following his dream of writing, acting in and producing his first screenplay, 'Oxy-Morons.'"About 60 percent of stuff I've lived through or experienced, witnessed, and the rest is just creative imagination for a good story," he said.Shooting in many of Hickey's old haunts, this low budget independent flick has a cast and crew of mostly local talent, and they're up against other major productions in town."We have 'The Town' with Ben Affleck, and then we have Tom Cruise's 'Wichita,' and then we have 'Oxy-Morons.' I wish they'd just throw us a few pennies," said said executive producer Damian DiPaulo.DiPaulo is a restaurateur by night and movie producer by day. It's taken three years to get this privately funded production off the ground, but he said it's worth it."I thought opening restaurants and running them was a sense of accomplishment, but hopefully, this is going to spread to an entire nation of people and is going to have a message," he said."The message behind this movie is to show the dark side of OxyContin," Hickey said. "If someone doesn't get a message out to the kids that scares them, and drift them away from that, then it's just going to recycle itself."The team hopes to finish post production in January in time to enter into the Sundance Film Festival this spring.
Local Man Transforms Drug Past Into Movie | MySpace: OxyMorons Movie | OxyMoronsMovie.comHickey said eventually, the drug consumed every part of his life."You need that drug to function, you need that drug to get up and take a shower, to put your shoes on," he said.Hickey survived the local streets, prison and almost getting killed."I got thrown of an 80-foot cliff, for real, on rocks in Quincy. I woke up seven days later in a coma," Hickey said.Now 30, Hickey is clean, has a college degree and is following his dream of writing, acting in and producing his first screenplay, 'Oxy-Morons.'"About 60 percent of stuff I've lived through or experienced, witnessed, and the rest is just creative imagination for a good story," he said.Shooting in many of Hickey's old haunts, this low budget independent flick has a cast and crew of mostly local talent, and they're up against other major productions in town."We have 'The Town' with Ben Affleck, and then we have Tom Cruise's 'Wichita,' and then we have 'Oxy-Morons.' I wish they'd just throw us a few pennies," said said executive producer Damian DiPaulo.DiPaulo is a restaurateur by night and movie producer by day. It's taken three years to get this privately funded production off the ground, but he said it's worth it."I thought opening restaurants and running them was a sense of accomplishment, but hopefully, this is going to spread to an entire nation of people and is going to have a message," he said."The message behind this movie is to show the dark side of OxyContin," Hickey said. "If someone doesn't get a message out to the kids that scares them, and drift them away from that, then it's just going to recycle itself."The team hopes to finish post production in January in time to enter into the Sundance Film Festival this spring. Copyright 2009 by TheBostonChannel.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
