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Filming in full swing [UPDATED]
Published 10:49am Wednesday, June 20, 2012 Updated 12:57pm Wednesday, June 20, 2012With filming of the psychological thriller “Geist” in full swing at the Fergus Falls Regional Treatment Center, director Eric Dunn is loving the location.
“It’s almost perfect,” he said. “It lends itself real easily to have a production here of this caliber and this size.”
It also can easily be adapted to the chilling mood Dunn is trying to convey in “Geist,” which is about a man who wakes up in a mental institution with no clue how he got there. Meanwhile, some ghost hunters are tracking down the rumored spirits of children who were murdered on the grounds.
“We shot down in the tunnels, and being down in the tunnels by yourself is creepy,” Dunn said, noting that that’s a good thing. “In a lot of the buildings, it’s perfect for a horror film.”
The film began shooting Friday, with much of the first weekend dedicated to filming the murders of the kids. The film’s “butcher” character (played by Ashby resident Beau Brendmoen) comes up with a variety of grisly ways to do in some of the children.
“We killed the kids off first because it was the weekend,” said Dunn. “We had to be creative about it because we didn’t have Danny Lopez like we thought we would originally.”
Lopez, a world-famous Johnny Depp impersonator and past collaborator with Dunn, is expected to arrive in Fergus Falls Saturday, followed by four production days that Dunn said will have the crew “going like gangbusters.”
Dunn praised his cast and crew, many of them from Fergus Falls and the surrounding area, and said that it’s due to their dedication and talent that the filming has gone well for the most part so far. He’s also crazy about the film potential of the RTC, noting that the place is so big that several movies with different atmospheres could be filmed in different floors or locations inside.
“If the building is still standing, we could make another film here at some point,” he said.
For more photos of the RTC filming process, check out our gallery.
I often wonder how much the council cost the tax payers of Fergus Falls when they refused the first 2 movies from being shot at the RTC?
How much? Maybe tens of dollars. While there’s nothing wrong with shooting films at the RTC, locals hold the mistaken notion that this will bring millions of dollars and worldwide notoriety to the city. You have to keep in mind that these are low-budget indie films. And so far, they’ve only wanted to use the site for psychological/horror flicks.
Anyone remember 13 hours in a warehouse? They ended up shooting it in Minneapolis, it was never seen by anyone except the metro film crowd and was silently forgotten after getting poor reviews.
If the city of Fergus Falls really wanted to step up, they could contact the MN film board – there are many state incentives available. That’s assuming that Dav Kaufman’s friend isn’t still on the board. They already dangled a carrot in front of the FF city council in the form of a possible Coen brothers film implementing the RTC for a few scenes(a serious man), but pulled it out at the last minute. The entire movie was shot in the twin cities and they had no intention of ever actually using the RTC.
During Summer fest we did have some one tour the Kirkbride that works at Universal Studios. She was going to contact her people there, and see if there isn’t something they could use this for. That would bring money into town, so far though, no one is spending money here for film making, because they are volunteers…