While many dental professionals hope to live out their careers helping patients until they can retire comfortably, one dentist from Madison had slightly different plans for his life post-dentistry.
Dr. Jim Kreutzer began practicing dentistry in Madison in the late 1970s at a group practice before opening his private practice in Kenosha, Wis. in 1981. Fortunately, his practice became quite successful and he was able to begin dabbling in his other love—movies. He started with investing in small films, including romantic comedy “Just Write” and a Wisconsin-made horror movie “Fever Lake.”
For Kreutzer his love of movies stemmed from an affinity for telling and picking up stories. So once he had the resources to turn that love from a dream into reality he dove into it head on. This meant that he decided to go from investing in movies to producing them himself.
That led to his most recent (and critically acclaimed!) project—a film called “Tommy’s Honour,” which was directed by Jason Connery (son of Sean Connery) and stars Peter Mullan, Jack Lowden and Sam Neill. The inspiration for this work came from a golfing trip in Scotland where Kreutzer learned about Old Tom Morris and Young Tom (Tommy) Morris, famed Scottish golfer from the mid-19th century.
About his journey to actually getting his film made Kreutzer said, “For a while there it was just me out there, driving around in the weather, asking myself ‘What the heck am I doing out there?’” Fortunately, though, he never gave up and the story eventually caught the attention of Connery through a good, old-fashioned cold call. After that the two of them worked together to raise funds and flesh out the screenplay.
What they ended up with in “Tommy’s Honour” is not so much a golf movie as it is a movie about the relationship between a father and son as they struggle through differences in opinions and beliefs.
The film won the BAFTA Scotland Award for Best Picture in 2016 and premiered in the U.S. on April 14. Kreutzer is hoping it takes off just as well in the states as it did across the pond but already considers it a rousing success.
And with other projects already in the works, Kreutzer is just getting started on his work in the entertainment industry.
For more information on Kreutzer and his film “Tommy’s Honour” check out this article on The Cap Times.
