MADE
FOR THE
MOVIES
Steven Feinberg created films as a kid and is the reason Hollywood comes knocking on Rhode Island ’ s door , but it turns out his own life is playing out like a movie . by paul e . kandarian o photography by chad weeden
STEVEN FEINBERG wants to tell you stories .
There ’ s the one where scared , superstitious Colonials gather in a 1600s Salem village recreated in Lincoln , wary of the witchy Sanderson sisters who later fly their broomsticks over the streets of modern-day Newport to the tune of Blondie ’ s “ One Way or Another .”
There ’ s the one about a Gilded Age of power and privilege populating places like the mansions of the City by the Sea , and another about the brotherhood of crime on the hardscrabble streets of Providence .
And , of course , the ones about Wes Anderson ’ s Moonrise Kingdom , filmed in South County ; a polar bear of the infinite variety in East Greenwich , Warwick and Wayland Square ; and a king of polka dancing and his illicit business in Pawtucket , Providence , Woonsocket and Cranston .
Feinberg wants to show you those stories played out on the silver screen , the TV in your living room , the palm of your hand ; stories told in movies and shows filmed in , as Feinberg often says , the “ smallest state with the greatest backlot .” L
66 RHODE ISLAND MONTHLY l JUNE 2023