Production crew and cast members of the movie "The Purple Rose" prepare to rehearse a scene in the downtown Cheney alley near F Street between First and Second streets.
Wardrobe technician Emma Mueller cleans lint from actor Tom Kiesche's suit prior to shooting a scene last Friday for the movie "The Purple Rose." Parts of the movie were shot in Cheney over four days last week.
See a photo gallery from the event here.
For four days this past week, Cheney has been doubling as a small town in Wyoming and Oregon's largest city.
A local production crew has been in town at various locations shooting a movie, "The Purple Rose." According to a news release, the movie is based on the first novel in a series of books by Liberty Lake, Wash. author Christi Walsh; books that are based in the Northwest.
Walsh - who was born in Pasco - and her husband Jim are serving as the movie's executive producers. Their company, Wassat Productions, has teamed with Spokane-based producer Marc Dahlstrom, who then brought on board producers Steve Graham and Jodi Binstock, with Binstock handling directing.
All three, along with many members of the production crew, worked together on the Sci-Fi Channel's "Z-Nation," which has shot locally in Medical Lake and Fairfield.
"The Purple Rose" centers on a young woman named Kate, who after "escaping the clutches of a deadly stalker flees to a remote anonymous town where she rebuilds her life and finds the man of her dreams - until the man of her nightmares tracks her down." The encounter with the stalker takes place in Portland, Ore., with Kate then fleeing to a small town in Wyoming.
The movie stars Janel Parrish, best known for playing Mona Vanderwaal in the Freeform series "Pretty Little Liars." It also stars Rob Estes, who played Harry Wilson on the TV series "90210" from 2008-2010, Jonah Platt ("Wicked" on Broadway), Michael Welch ("Twilight") and Tom Kiesche (Clovis in AMC's "Breaking Bad").
Dahlstrom said in looking for locations they were searching for one that could serve as a large city as well as a small town. Cheney fit the bill, as long as the big city shots didn't go too wide.
"Certain parts of the downtown, you can pull off Portland," Dahlstrom said.
The production worked last Friday, May 5, at locations downtown that included the alley between College Avenue and F Street, Brewster Hall, Second Street and College and outside Against the Grain, which served as a "Wyoming Antique Store." Saturday started at sites on Eastern Washington University and then moved back downtown to the Cheney Thrift Store and the Mason Jar.
Shooting wrapped up Wednesday and Thursday, May 10-11, going back to Against the Grain but mainly focusing on Wild Bill's Longbar, with work running from midnight until 12:30 p.m. Dahlstrom said it was Wild Bill's that cemented the selection of Cheney.
"The Longbar was sort of the lynchpin," Dahlstrom said. "We talked to them (owners Greg Hubbard and Charlie Witte) and they were for it. After that, it was, well what else can we use?"
The first part of "The Purple Rose" was filmed in Los Angeles. Besides Cheney, the second part of location shooting took place in and around Spokane.
Dahlstrom said filming in Cheney has been fun, with the city "lighting up" on Friday and Saturday nights as EWU students came downtown. Besides being welcomed, the production has been able to get a lot of what it set out to do accomplished.
"A small town is full of nice people who leave you alone and let you do your thing," Dahlstrom said.
John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].
See a photo gallery from the event here.
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