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'Reparation' film impresses during premiere
OK, so it wasn't your typical Hollywood film premiere.
No pulsating 500-watt klieg lights illuminated the skies over Greencastle. Somewhere the celebratory champagne is still on ice. And instead of a line of limos, the only vehicle parked along Seminary Street in front of Ashley Square Cinemas Sunday night was Ol' Blue, the 1971 Ford pickup truck used in the movie.
But that couldn't keep the premiere of "Reparation," the independent movie filmed in Greencastle and Putnam County in 2014, from successfully launching the film on its national release Sunday night at Ashley Square.
Shown to near sell-outs on both screens at Ashley Square Sunday, it seemed logical "Reparation" would have local tongues wagging about the Putnam people, places and things they observed during the two-hour film. After all, the film opens with a shot of the old DePauw University Art Center, the Greencastle Farmers' Market is in a pivotal scene and the Putnam County Courthouse interior even doubles for a bus station at one point.
But instead of dwelling on that, locals leaving the movie theater were gushing about the quality of the movie, the plot and the acting.
Good signs for screenwriter Steve Timm, the DePauw communications and theater professor and his former student, director Kyle Ham.
"What was it like to see where you live (on the big screen)?" Greencastle resident, film location scout and actress (she plays the garden center owner) Gigi Fenlon asked the audience that stayed around for a question-and-answer session after the show.
"Awesome," came one quick response.
Then came the most telling remark.
"About 10 minutes in," one woman responded, she was completely engrossed in the story and had forgotten all about checking the scenery and faces in the crowd.
Heads nodded all around the theater.
"I really feel like it was a community effort," Timm told the audience, expressing deep appreciation for how the movie cast and crew were embraced during and after filming.
"I hope you're as proud of it as we are," he added.
The cast was key, too, actress Virginia Newcomb said following the showing.
"We clicked right away," she said. "We felt like a family."
Meanwhile, Timm and Ham stayed true to the story, originally created by Timm as a play, "The Activist."
He recalled how from 2000-06 the script made its rounds in Hollywood, getting fresh treatments a couple of times but the results were never to the liking of Timm and Ham.
"We kind of lost the story we wanted to tell, so we shelved it," Timm said.
But he and Ham returned to the story in 2013 and then filmed it the way they wanted in 2014.
Retaining the essence of the story that has been there from the start was key, and is verbalized by Jerome, a mysterious stranger (played by Jon Huertas, a regular on the TV show "Castle"). It's Jerome who has the line, "When did law get in the way of our friendship?"
The finished product -- which has won 11 major awards at nine film festivals, including the American Spectrum Award at the 2016 Indy Film Festival -- is what Timm and Ham say they set out to do.
"This is as close to what we were thinking as I ever imagined," Timm said. "You grab the screenplay, and this is what you see."
In fact, only one extraneous scene was shot, so there wasn't a lot cut out of the film.
"Reparation" is being distributed as a totally independent project. The filmmakers are using September, Ham said, to arrange getting the movie in theaters.
"Tonight is the kickoff for that," he said, explaining that plans call for similar openings in 14 other cities.
"We thought we made people wait long enough," he added, alluding to the 2014 filming and 2016 premiere.
Cities on the agenda for "Reparation" include Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Tulsa, Memphis, Birmingham, Scottsdale and more.
Plans also call for a showing at the restored Tivoli Theatre in Spencer.
The cast and crew were also asked for their highs and lows on the project.
For Ham, that was easy.
The low, he said, was when Ol' Blue, the 1971 Ford F-100 pickup rescued from his family's barn in Oklahoma where it had sat untouched for 23 years, broke down the day before shooting was to begin.
The 45-year-old truck wasn't just a part of the life of lead character Bob Stevens (actor Marc Menchaca of "Homeland"), it was steeped in sentiment for Ham. His dad had passed away six months prior to the start of shooting and Ol' Blue served as a visual reminder of his roots for the producer.
The day the gear shifter finally disintegrated was a tough one, he recalled.
"I sat in the truck and started to cry," he admitted, explaining that inside that truck he could feel how the seat was molded to his dad's body and the interior of the driver's door partly worn away by the sweat of all those years his father had rested his left arm on the window edge while driving.
It might have been easier to switch vehicles than fix Ol' Blue, Ham agreed, "but the son in me couldn't let it go."
That's when scenic designer Duane Skoog, a DePauw staff member, jumped into action. He had experience with the three-on-the-tree transmission and popped the hood to show Ham how the shifting on the console could be circumvented by pulling on rods in the engine compartment.
"And that's how we shifted gears every shot," Hamm laughed, noting that the old truck was used on 14 of the 24 shooting days on the film.
But Ham's choice of a high was even easier.
"My high," he told the after-premiere audience, "is right now."
The Ashley Square run will continue with 7 p.m. showings of "Reparation" through Thursday, Sept. 8 at the theater at Seminary and Indiana streets. Tickets are $6.