This is always a pretty fun concept. Take a popular film and screen it in the location it was filmed at or site that inspired the movie's creation. That's exactly what Netflix and Austin's Alamo Drafthouse are partnering up to do beginning today.
Some of the locations include:
Martha's Vineyard, Massassachusets. Where a famous Great White Shark attacked beachgoers in Steven Spielberg's Jaws.
Red Bank, New Jersey. Where Jay and Silent Bob made their debut in Kevin Smith's Clerks.
Dyersville, Iowa. Home to the cornfields and baseball diamond seen in Field of Dreams.
Estes Park, Colorado. Home to the Stanley Hotel, where Stephen King wrote half of The Shining.
Monument Valley, Utah. Where John Wayne starred in John Ford's The Searchers.
San Francisco, California. Where Clint Eastwood was able to Escape from Alcatraz.
In some cases, there'll be Q&A sessions with a director or cast, a location tour, musical performances, and/or other activities. For the most part, tickets are free, but it is advised to arrive at the events early. Since I'm currently in Iowa, and have always wanted to see the Field of Dreams filming location, we're hoping to make it to that screening.
Check out the official Netflix Rolling Roadshow website for the complete list of films and details about each screening event.
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For amusement, I can use the 'six degrees of separation' theory with these films to find connections between them and myself:
Field of Dreams, which takes place in Iowa, was based on the book, Shoeless Joe by W.P. Kinsella, born in Edmonton, Alberta, just as I was.
Kevin Costner, who starred as Ray Kinsella in Field of Dreams, directed and played a lead character in the western, Open Range, shot in my home province of Alberta.
Also filmed in Alberta was the Academy Award-winning film, Unforgiven, by director Clint Eastwood.
Clint Eastwood directed The Bridges of Madison County near Winterset, Iowa, about a 45-minute drive from where my wife and I have our U.S. residence. We visited some of the main bridges made famous by the book and film.
John Wayne, star of The Searchers was born in Winterset, Iowa.
I have visited the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado. An imposing structure to be sure, and a place that has its share of spooky stories. There's other links I have too, but it's the Alberta ones that I'm most proud of.
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I can also see screenings like this taking place in Alberta. There already was the Brokeback Mountain Movie Truck Tour. But imagine:
Watching X2: X-Men United in the rockies of Kananaskis, home to the fictional Alkali Lake base where Wolverine was 'modified.' Or even an outdoor screening of The Edge with Sir Anthony Hopkins or Alec Baldwin.
A frightful night screening of Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning at Fort Edmonton Park.
Viewing Cool Runnings at Calgary's Canada Olympic Park.
An old-western town showing of Unforgiven or Open Range.
Enjoying River of No Return, starring Marilyn Monroe in Jasper National Park, Alberta.
Experiencing the wonder of the Alberta badlands with T-Rex: Back to the Cretaceous or Shanghai Noon.
A barnyard or wheatfield showing of Richard Donner's Superman or Terrence Malick's Days of Heaven.
Southern Alberta's foothills as a backdrop for a screening of Legends of the Fall.
There are so many other possibilities, and while people could create the experiece for themselves, what could be more fun than enjoying a movie with a group of like-minded movie fans?
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