Metro – While many Boston-based films tend to focus on the rougher aspects of the city, Grace, a new indie movie starring Katie Cassidy and Tate Donovan, gives viewers a peek at different side of the Hub.

Directed by Bay State native Devin Adair, Grace recently made its U.S. premiere at the Boston Film Festival earlier this fall. The small budget flick forgoes the gangster-filled mayhem of blockbusters like The Departed or The Town, and instead tells the story of an acclaimed author named Charlie Ellison (Donovan) who gets his world turned upside down when his agent (Matthew Lillard) sends him a feisty new assistant named Dawn (Cassidy). Insatiable actress Debby Ryan also stars in Grace.

According to Donovan, Charlie is a “crazy genius writer” who comes from “old, east coast money,” but has become a recluse over the years and is traumatized by his strict, abusive upbringing. Hailing from the other side of the tracks, the scrappy Dawn is working through her own issues as well and dreams of becoming an author, eventually finding a mentor of sorts in Charlie. Meanwhile, Donovan’s character is inspired by Dawn to write a new novel, which will hopefully clear up his financial woes.

Adair, who first came up with the story while attending high school at Phillips Academy Andover, was overjoyed to get the chance to film Grace in the Boston area, as well as premiere the film in her hometown. The first-time director notes that the story is an “homage to all the young women who really wanted to be recognized for their talent and the struggle that is for young women today.”

“It is the weirdest destiny thing to have shot this movie in Boston and now to premiere it in Boston,” says Adair. “It’s the most special thing that could happen.”

Both Donovan and Cassidy were thrilled to get the chance to shoot in and around the Hub, although the filming process was a bit harder on the Arrow star. Cassidy had to balance working on the hit CW superhero series with Grace, often flying back and forth between sets in Vancouver and Boston.

“I was literally not sleeping, kind of a mess, but it actually worked. I don’t know how,” admits Cassidy. “I think it worked for the character. I’m surprised I didn’t look 20,000 times worse than I felt because it was a lot of work. But it was worth it for me.”

Despite the many sleepless nights, Cassidy loved the story of Grace, as it portrays a hard-working, no nonsense woman who’s just trying to get her foot in the door.

“She just doesn’t give a f—k,” says Cassidy. “She just wants to have her voice be heard.”

“[Charlie] heard her and he allowed her to have a voice,” she adds. “With this movie, I love that Charlie gives her that. He gives her a voice and listens to her. I think as a woman, sometimes that can be frustrating. We don’t feel heard.”

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Unfortunately Katie did not make the Grace premiere at the Boston Film Festival I would guess she was filming Arrow at the time but reviews are coming out now and from the looks of it there are all good.

Emertainment Monthly – Grace starring Tate Donovan and Katie Cassidy is a film full of comedic moments dealing with a once upon a time famous writer named Charlie (Donovan) who has writer’s block. To make matters worse, Charlie’s best friend and agent Bernie (Matthew Lillard) has spent all of the money the two made from previous books without Charlie knowing. If Charlie doesn’t write another groundbreaking novel, the two will be in debt forever. In order to save himself, Bernie decides to send in another struggling writer, Dawn (Cassidy) to inspire and help Charlie get back to writing.

Throughout the film, the audience is drawn into Charlie’s rich but broken life. Whenever the audience sees Charlie struggling the coloring is full of dark blues to indicate the stress and depression that Charlie has been going through for most of his life. He lives in the house he grew up in and is consistently reminded of all the turmoil his mother put him through. Luckily, with Dawn helping him he starts to get over the hurdle of his past and start writing again. Dawn continually inspires Charlie to enjoy life again and to not be fearful of the world.

The writing was so brilliant that even when there was no dialogue the actors knew exactly how to capture the audience’s attention. The actors Tate Donovan and Katie Cassidy did an amazing job of reeling the audience into their world of being helpless writers that wouldn’t have been inspired if they hadn’t met each other. Their dynamic with each other was breathtaking with every scene they were in.

The camera work was absolutely phenomenal. It amazed the audience that a certain movement of the camera angle could tell a story within itself. One of the most interesting camera angles was when Dawn would move around the glass bunnies. At Dawn’s old home she would move around beer bottles near the front door so then if there was an intruder she would hear the bottles knockdown and be warned. So when she got to Charlie’s fancy house she decided to take the glass bunnies and put those around the door so then she could do the same thing if there happened to be an intruder.

Grace is a film full of breathtaking storylines that so many writers can relate to. Not only was watching the film enjoyable, but also seeing how all the behind-the-scenes crew worked on the film was an amazing experience. Grace is one of the best movies of this year because it includes so much more than what meets the eye.

Overall Grade: B

More exciting news on “Grace” it has just been confirmed to be heading to the 32th Boston Film Festival on September 20th-23rd at the Arts Emerson’s Paramount Theater Bright Screening Room and at the Showplace Icon at Seaport. It will invlude the US premiere of “Grace” that was shot locally and Katie is according to the site expected to attend the event but only time will tell on that.