Oskaloosa And 5-25-77 Share Some Force
Patrick Read Johnson (right) made a stop in Oskaloosa on his journey promoting his new film ‘5-25-77’
Oskaloosa, Iowa – Rain may have been falling in a steady drizzle, but that didn’t temper the spirits of filmmaker Patrick Read Johnson as his 1975 Ford Pinto pulled up in front of the US Post Office in Oskaloosa from Fairfield, Iowa on May 30th. The significance of 52577 is that it’s also the release date of ‘Star Wars’ 5-25-77.
“We started out this little adventure in Wadsworth, Illinois where I grew up and we’re sort of repeating a journey that I took when I was an 18 year old kid.”
The movie centers around a kid who was the first to see Star Wars, which happens to be Johnson. “Through a magical Wizard of Oz like circumstance, I got blown out to Hollywood during the spring of 1977 when two little movies, ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’ and ‘Star Wars’, were in post production.”
Johnson, who drove a similar car to Hollywood to start his career in the movie industry said, “Now, we’re going to drive our little film across America.”
During his recreation trip back to Hollywood, Johnson was showing his film at different stops along the way. Places like Omaha and Devils Tower were destinations for his ride down memory lane.
Johnson said that the guest audiences also made for a good way to try the movie out, making it a “test bed to make final adjustments before we put the thing into a final cut.”
The independently financed film started its life back in 2004 and with no set delivery date, it has allowed the group to polish their work further. So the group re-shot in 2005 and again in 2006.
John Francis Daley, of ‘Freaks and Geeks’ and ‘Bones’ fame is the star of the film, who plays the younger Patrick Johnson with Neil Flynn of ‘Scrubs’, Austin Pendleton who is know for his role in ‘My Cousin Vinny’ along with a host of local Chicago theater and film actors.
Gary Kurtz who produced ‘Star Wars’ and ‘American Graffiti’ is producing the film for Johnson.
“It’s a tiny little movie,” says Johnson in regards to the 2.5 million dollar budget. “We kept shooting enough to cut enough together, to get more investors to put in the money to finish it. We’re finally in the home stretch where we’ve shot everything.” Johnson says they are doing this trip, in part, to help raise the remaining $500,000.00 that would be used to buy the music that is used in the film, mostly 23 different pop songs from the 70’s.
Some digital effects also need to be finished up for the film, “Because it has to do with a young kid who meets all these wizards like Douglas Trumball”. Trumball was responsible for the visual effects in films like ‘2001’ and ‘Close Encounters’. “He was sort of my hero in those days, and still is. Now he’s a friend of mine.” Johnson says.
Johnson says that the trip started out as a simple idea. “The idea is, I was just going to do this trip in my Pinto where I just went across the country showing my film to little test settings, like comic book shops and drive-in movie theaters, just to kind of give the fans, who are already aware of the film, a chance to see it the way I saw ‘Star Wars’.”
Johnson says its current stat is that it’s not quite done, but its near enough that it makes sense. “Just before I button it all up, I kind of want to get their input.”
Along the way, some filmmakers are making a documentary about the “adventure” and about the making of the movie. The website ‘Hearts of Dorkness’
The trailer has also won an award or two, and is certainly entertaining on its own to watch. Here’s to seeing Osky’s zip code up in lights and good luck to Patrick Read Johnson in the completion of his film.
