Julian Adams (M. Arch ’98) has followed a very different path than most of his classmates. He’s not spending his days designing homes or buildings. Instead, he’s walking the red carpet celebrating the opening of Phantom, his first wide release film.

Phantom, a thriller that Adams produced and co-stars in along with Ed Harris, David Duchovny and William Fichtner, is the first film in wide release for Julian and Solar Filmworks, the production company founded by Julian and his father, Weston Adams. It was written and directed by Emmy Award Winning director-writer-producer Todd Robinson, whose credits include Lonely Hearts and Ridley Scott’s White Squall. John Watson and Pen Densham, whose previous films include Backdraft, Blown Away, and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, completed the production team. The partnership between Adams and Robinson began in 2009, when Julian produced the Robinson-directed music documentary, Amy Cook: The Spaces in Between, which was released by The Documentary Channel. The pair then developed the story for Phantom, which is based on true events during the Cold War.

 Adams didn’t jump straight from architecture school to filmmaking. It was an interesting, if not exactly by design, change in career path that stemmed from Adams’ lifelong love of movies. While in architecture school he began to explore independent filmmaking as a hobby.  Then, while working for Stevens and Wilkinson in South Carolina after graduation, he began to work on independent films being shot in North and South Carolina. At the same time, he and his father began to compile the story of their family in the Civil War. That story ultimately became The Last Confederate: The Story of Robert Adams, the maiden project of their new production company, Solar Filmworks. That film won 10 Film Festival Awards, including a best actor award for Julian and seven producing awards for father and son.

 That film led to the partnership with Robinson, and consequently, the current film Phantom. Adams and Solar Filmworks are only getting started though. Julian is currently producing and acting in Robinson’s next feature film, The Last Full Measure, which is slated for release in 2014 and will star Morgan Freeman, Ed Harris, Robert Duvall, Andy Garcia, and Laurence Fishburne.  He is also working with writer and executive producer Michael Frost Beckner producing and acting in the Civil War mini-series Grant vs. Lee: To Appomattox which will also be released in 2014, starring Rob Lowe, Will Patton, Bill Paxton, and William Peterson.

 When asked if he’s found any similarities between architecture and filmmaking, he says, “Most definitely.  Both begin with a concept on paper. You then must take that concept and, through creative and mechanical means, determine how to manifest it.  Whether a building or a movie - the process requires both creativity and engineering.”

 Phantom is currently playing in theaters nationwide and will be coming to DVD, tv and video-on-demand.