Sean Lackey and Terry McChrystal met as freshmen at Cleveland’s St. Ignatius High School. Their friendship grew through college and beyond. A fatal heart attack at age 43 transformed Lackey’s golf buddy and lifelong pal into his inspiration. . The result is “The Yank,” another film project written, produced, directed and starring Lackey, with a $1.2 million budget. Thanks in large part to more than $330,000 from the Ohio Motion Picture Tax Credit, the picture is more than 60 percent funded, according to Lackey. Clevelander Fred Willard (Best in Show, Waiting for Guffman) is on tap — but hasn’t been signed — to play Lackey’s gung-ho Irish father, who’s actually a fourth-generation Irish-American who has never been to the country. The story has Lackey’s character, Tom Murphy, headed to Ireland for a wedding and his parents think it’s a perfect time for him to meet the right girl. Lackey’s Murphy is the best man, and it turns out that the maid of honor is the ex-security guard who tossed him out of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Dublin-born Colm Meaney (“Star Trek: Deep Space Nine”) is in negotiations to play Lackey’s sardonic Irish relative, and there’s hope that Christina Applegate (“Married With Children”) will portray the love interest. Likely to also join the cast as Fred Finnegan is Kevin Farley, the brother of the late “Saturday Night Live” comedian Chris Farley. There is a script with certain lines. But because of Lackey’s improvisational background along with the improvisational skills of the other actors, the bulk of the dialogue will be made on the spot. Lackey and Wilding hope to start filming this month or next. They will be hitting as many film festivals as possible, but Wilding said the big push will be for DVD sales and online. To read the entire story head on over to the official Cleveland Plain Dealer Web site.