TEKOA — For several days earlier this month, downtown was filled with actors and film crews as “Train Dreams” filming was underway.
Town residents and spectators filled the area to watch movie-making magic unfold.
Crew members could be seen dumping dirt across the road for the first scene, which featured extras being thrown out of “The Mercantile,” Tekoa’s old bank building that had been remade into a general store.
Among the crowd was the drama class from the Oakesdale, a small town between southeast of Rosalia. Students toook the day off school to watch filming. The class got to talk about the film with a crew member who explained to them that the film was an adaptation of Denis Johnson’s Pulitizer Prize-nominated novella.
Oakesdale students were able to see the set in the historic Empire Theatre and crew members kept busy preparing the outside of the building for the next day
“It was great to watch actors having to rehearse their scenes over and over again just like we do,” Oakesdale drama student Jenna Rawls said.Classmate Charlie Henning said that watching the filming made him want to be an actor.
Lead actor, Joel Edgerton, could be seen walking out of the remodeled bank holding a loaf of bread several times, as crew members scattered across the set yelled “Cut,” or “Running.”
Edgerton, an Australian actor, is known in the U.S. for his protrayal of Owen Lars in the Star Wars movies “Attack of the Clones” and “Revenge of the Sith.”
Assistant Locations Manager Pete Moroz said that it was the Empire Theatre Building that brought the film crew to Tekoa.
“Then we thought we would film in some other locations.”
The day saw an end with a scene being filmed near the W. Brotherton Seed Co. Inc.
Hay bails were set up in the back to look like an old western and a horse drawn carriage made it’s way for the scene.
Local business Eclair’s Coffee and Co. was able to be a part of the filming as it was remade to look like a lounge.
Eclair’s owner Melinda Wilkins said that the crew, cast, and everybody involved in the film was courteous and professional.
“I can’t say enough about how well it was organized,” Wilkins said. “They were just wonderful people to work with.”
“It was a truly amazing experience,” Tekoa Mayor Roy Schulz said. “The film company was incredible fitting in and making things work.”
“It’s definitely going to be talked about for a long time,” Wilkins said, adding that it’s one of those opportunities you don’t get very often.
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