After years of playing in bands, acting, writing and directing, Sergio knew it was time to reach back into those memories and make a film.

Once the script was finished Sergio brought casting director Michele Ortlip onto the project. They immediately began an extensive casting process. Sergio was looking for a very particular style of acting and look for the actors. It was important that the audience truly believed that all of these people were from the same neighborhood.

Casting the lead, Ryan, was of course very important. When Sergio met Michael Rodrick he knew immediately that he'd found the actor who would bring the complexity and depth needed to the character. "Ryan required a great degree of emotion and vulnerability", according to casting director Michelle Ortlip "and Rodrick was right on". One of the main reasons was rather personal. According to Sergio, "I learned that he was going through a painful break-up. He was very forthcoming, and I knew that like Ryan, Michael was emotionally vulnerable. Everything was there on the surface just waiting to break out".

Says Rodrick, "Occasionally when I was about to do a scene Sergio would ask me something about my ex-girlfriend, you know some little thing to start me thinking, but it was enough to get me really worked up emotionally. I didn't realize it at the time but a lot of that energy went right into my character."

Jonathan LaPaglia, who plays Vincent, initially came across the role in a much different way. He was in his agent's office when she left him alone for a few minutes. LaPaglia began to go through the pile of scripts on her desk and randomly grabbed "Under Hellgate Bridge". By the time the agent returned LaPaglia was hooked. He told her on the spot that he wanted the role of Vincent. According to "Under Hellgate Bridge" Co-Producer Isil Bagdadi "Jonathan was perfect for the part, he is amazing to watch on screen."

Next was the female lead, Carla. Instead of the typical lady in waiting, Sergio had constructed a complex woman, one who had many interior personal struggles and difficult choices. "When I saw Jordan Bayne, I knew that she was Carla," said Sergio. "The problem was that she had a slight Southern accent, obviously not appropriate for someone from Queens." Sergio told Bayne to work on the Queens dialect and then brought her back six times, and each time she sounded less and less like a Southerner. Said Sergio, "By the sixth time I would have sworn that she was born and raised in Astoria."

Sergio had worked for many years as an actor, on Broadway, in movies and on TV, so in casting some of the other roles he reached out to actors that he had worked with in the past. "Vincent Pastore (Mitch), Frank Vincent (Big Sal) and I worked together in the film 'Men of Respect', "said Sergio, "and I knew that they'd be great." Pastore has his own tale of Sergio. "Mike's really into method. In 'Men of Respect he had a scene where John Turtorro shoots him in the back and he dies in the arms of Stanley Tucci. He asked me to really lay into him, and kept pushing me to hit him harder so he could prepare for that scene. Over and over I nailed him in the gut and he told me later he had welts all over his stomach. I guess that he never forgot me."

Pastore brought in old friend Dominic Chianese to play the part of Father Nichols at a final reading of "Under Hellgate Bridge." Pastore assured Sergio that once he saw Dominic, he's wanted him to play the part. Pastore was right. "I really wanted Dominic for the role" said Sergio "he was so poised and introspective in the reading that honestly once he walked into the room, in my mind there was no one else who could do the role. Dominic takes his craft very seriously and it shows in the quality of the work". The only thing was that Dominic was growing a goatee for a one man show that he was developing about the Italian playwright Luigi Pirandello. "Now I haven't seen many modern day priests with goatee's" laughed Sergio "but Dominic convinced me that he could pull it off....and he did it wonderfully."

Then Michele brought in Brian Vincent and Careena Melia. "they are both unbelievably natural on screen" said Sergio. To research their roles they both went for two weeks to a needle exchange program on the lower East side. They blended in so well that no one knew they were actors. They were actually offered Methadone by the clinic.

Michele then insisted that Sergio see Kristen Lee Kelly who was in the Broadway Show "Rent" for the role of Marsha. "When Kristen walked in I was overwhelmed by how much she was exactly like the girls from Astoria that I grew up with" said Sergio. "And I was blown away by her level of craft. I mean she is so good that on location the entire crew would applaud after each of her takes."

Sergio then traveled with the cast and crew to Astoria, Queens. Said Sergio "This is where I ran wild as a kid and choosing locations and shots was truly a trip down memory lane, and of course there was Hellgate Bridge."

Hellgate Bridge is named for the very narrow body of water that it spans over. It's where the Long Island Sound meets the Atlantic Ocean. The currents are so strong and deadly, legend has it that sailors referred to it as the gate to hell. "The name ended up being rather prophetic," says Sergio, "when I was young the area was sort of the end of the world. It was not exactly a happy place. Astoria exists in the shadow of New York City, it's almost like you look across the East River at Manhattan and you feel like a surf looking across the moat at the king's Castle. And it leaves you feeling like you're so close to the good life but somehow it will never be yours, like you'll never make it. It was this sense of desperation that I tried to capture."

According to Bagdadi, "I also grew up in Astoria and I grasped what Mike was getting at and it's all up there on the screen. Plus Mike is a real fighter, he stands up for what he believes. There was one investor who came late into the project. He's one of Gotham's more infamous investor's and Andy Warhol collaborator. This guy had someone else in mind for the role of Vincent besides Jonathan LaPaglia. This investor said he'd pull his money if Sergio didn't hire the actor who he wanted and told Sergio to choose between his money or Jonathan. But Mike stood his ground. It was only 2 weeks before principle photography and Mike had a tough choice to make. But he did it. He told the investor to take a hike....that's how much Mike believed in Jonathan and how he fought to get this film made."