|
|
| Movie being filmed in Le Center area |
By: Kurt Hildebrandt
|
Posted: Wednesday, July 28, 2010 4:13 pm
|
Actor John Cromwell discusses a scene with others who will appear in “Souvenirs” during a Saturday session in a rock quarry southwest of Le Center.
|
|
‘Souvenirs’ being shot over 20-day period at several locations
It’s the kind of excitement generally reserved for a studio lot in Hollywood, but there has been a lot of buzz generated lately in the Le Center area and other parts of Le Sueur County about a movie being filmed in this area.
The film is entitled “Souvenirs” and according to its website (www.souvenirsthemovie.com) is “the first cross-genre family/war movie that uses war stories to explore the themes of war, storytelling and family. It’s about the intensity of war, the challenges of true leadership, and the importance of passing down wisdom through the generations.”
The movie’s basic premise was outlined by Jeff Traxler of Le Center, who is well known in this area for his World War II reenactment he staged last year on his family’s game preserve just east of Le Center. Traxler contacted Twin Cities-based director Sam Fischer of 185 Media to film the reenactment and that relationship helped develop a movie idea about bringing to the screen a story that accurately depicts how war affects people from generation to generation. Traxler and several friends and associates of his are helping to provide financing for the film’s production.
Fischer helped bring in Twin Cities-based screenwriter Marc Conklin who took Traxler’s inspirations and developed them into the script. Craig Christiansen of Perspective Films was also brought on board in a producer’s role and the green light was given to bring those pages of the script to life via the camera.
Shooting will take place over a 20-day period, starting from last Thursday, and will take them to various venues around Le Sueur County including Traxler’s Hunting Preserve, Woodlawn Cemetery just east of St. Peter (on French Hill Road) and the Kasota Quarries.
The film also makes numerous references to the “Red Bulls” squadron of the Minnesota National Guard, which the St. Peter unit is a part of, as one of the main characters is a part of that unit.
“This is a very moving story that does a wonderful job honoring our country’s veterans,” Christiansen said. “We have about 60 crew members working on this film along with about 55 cast members with many of them coming from Minnesota.
“We’re very excited about how things are going and to be able to have locations like we do in this area to shoot most of the scenes is also very helpful.”
While filming continues, Christiansen is optimistic about distributing the film.
“We did have some conversations about pre-selling the film before shooting began, but most of those talks involved them taking over the basic idea and us walking away,” Christensen said. “But we believe so strongly in the story line and didn’t want to lose that so we’ve continued to move forward ourselves.
“Right now we’re working hard to get the interest of a major studio, because we believe we have a powerful story to tell. I’m optimistic that will happen.”
Among the cast members includes James Cromwell, who was nominated for an Oscar for his role as Farmer Hoggett in 1995 box office smash “Babe,” and his son John Cromwell, who has lived in Minnesota the past couple years.
“This is the first film these two have worked together on, and that only adds to the uniqueness of this film,” Christiansen said.
Jonathan Bennett, who has had roles in such recent films as “Mean Girls” and the TV series “Veronica Mars” also stars in “Souvenirs” as one of the main characters.
Souvenirs - a synopsis
(from www.souvenirsthemovie.com)
Two generations. Two wars. One story.
When a just-returned-home Army soldier, Kyle Vogel, leaves a handwritten letter on the passenger seat of his car, walks into a Minnesota forest alone and removes a pistol from his pocket, we wonder who he is, how he got here and what he’s about to do. The rest of the film answers these three questions in a magical way that crosses two continents and multiple time periods.
We start by seeing how Kyle was wounded in Iraq. When he’s sent to a trauma center, a female lieutenant (Kelly Tripp) catches wind of his penchant for taking the souvenirs of battle. When Tripp asks Kyle why he collects so many objects, he launches into a story about the single most formative day of his youth. On Memorial Day in 1993, when Kyle was just 13, he discovered a beat-up footlocker in a storm cellar at his grandparents’ Minnesota farmhouse. When presented with the footlocker, Bud Vogel —a veteran of the 82nd Airborne during World War II—refused to talk about the objects inside. Kyle used his persuasive abilities to change his grandfather’s mind, however, cajoling Bud into letting him pick three objects for the telling.
What follows in “Souvenirs” are not only Bud’s tales of battle, but intimate stories of friendship, loss, triumph, regret and acceptance. Over the course of one afternoon on a quiet farmhouse porch—and despite Bud’s failing short-term memory—we not only flash back to Bud’s incredible experiences in World War II, but also flash forward to see how Kyle’s experiences as a Minnesota National Guard “Red Bull” have mirrored those experiences.
After Kyle finishes telling Tripp about the footlocker, he returns for one final mission before his unit is due to be sent home. That mission forces Kyle to make his toughest call as a squad leader. Presented with a moral dilemma of leadership similar to one faced by Bud—whether to spare an individual life or let one person die to potentially save many others—Kyle comes to a full understanding of why his grandfather was so reluctant to share his war stories. |
|
Printer-friendly format
|
Login and voice your opinion!
|
|
|
