ARKANSAS IS making a scene Natural State chosen as backdrop for War Eagle, Arkansas story

BY MICHELLE PARKS ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE Sunday, August 20, 2006

EUREKA SPRINGS — For two decades, Vincent Insalaco watched a friendship grow between his son and his friend, who has cerebral palsy and is confined to a wheelchair. Insalaco’s son is athletic and has a speech impediment. Insalaco remembers his son getting in trouble because he used to ride around on the back of his friend’s motorized wheelchair. Both men, now in their 20s, enhance the other’s abilities and disabilities.    “Together, they sort of made a complete person,” he says.    Insalaco, of North Little Rock, has produced and directed several documentaries, but for his first feature film he decided to tackle the story of this unlikely pair.    “This film is essentially about my son and his best friend,” says Insalaco of War Eagle, Arkansas, an independent movie currently being filmed in and around this famed tourist town. Brian Dennehy, Mare Winningham and Mary Kay Place lend their Hollywood star power to the production. But it is the first time director Robert Milazzo has piloted a film.    Insalaco started thinking about the two friends about five years ago and took some notes. That developed into a short story that he sent to a few friends to ponder. They liked it and suggested that it become more.    “I knew I couldn't write the screenplay,” he says, because it was a personal story.    So he searched for a writer. After talking to several, he found one in Manhattan and flew there to meet with him. As they talked, Insalaco suspected the writer’s accent placed him as growing up somewhere besides New York. It turns out that the screenwriter, Graham Gordy, is a native of Conway.    After Gordy agreed to write the movie, they met at Insalaco’s lake house to write a treatment. Then Gordy went back to New York and completed the screenplay.    The story was originally called War Eagle Drive, after a street in North Little Rock. Gordy suggested dropping “Drive” from the title and moving the filming to the northwest part of the state around the community of War Eagle, Arkansas. The cast and crew are also filming in Huntsville, Fayetteville, Eureka Springs and Berryville.     CAST ARKANSAS     The young men are being portrayed by Luke Grimes, as Enoch, and Dan McCabe, as Wheels. The life-long friendship between Enoch and Wheels is tested when Enoch gets a girlfriend and is tempted by the prospects of leaving for college on a baseball scholarship.    Dennehy plays Pop, Enoch’s grandfather, whose own unfulfilled dreams fuel his desire to see his grandson get a baseball scholarship. Winningham plays Belle, Enoch’s mother; Mary Kay Place plays Jessie, Wheels’ mother. Misti Traya plays Enoch’s girlfriend, Abby.    James McDaniel plays Jack, a video store manager, part-time preacher and Wheels’ mentor. The Insalaco family once owned a video store chain, where Insalaco’s daughter and son worked.    Twelve Arkansans have speaking roles in the movie, including eight from Little Rock and one each from Beebe, Conway, North Little Rock and Springdale.    “We’re really happy we were able to cast as many as we did locally,” he says.    Raising money for this independent film has been a challenge, but War Eagle, Arkansas is being supported by investors from Arkansas and other states.    At first, Insalaco thought he’d shoot a digital film, which is cheaper to make. But after he passed the script around, McCorkle Casting Limited in New York became interested in the story. That’s how Dennehy and the other known actors got involved.    Panavision also got a copy of the script and sent 35 millimeter cameras for use on the filming.    “All of a sudden this became a full-blown 35 millimeter shoot,” he says.    Filming started Aug. 7 and will be complete by Sept. 2. The actors are flying in and out as they’re needed for various scenes, and, at the moment, the filming is on schedule.    The movie takes place the summer after Enoch’s senior year of high school. A pivotal moment comes at the All-Star baseball game, which will be filmed Saturday at Fayetteville High School.    “It’s a hard story told in front of, we hope, beautiful scenery,” he says.    Insalaco has been involved in state politics, most recently managing Jimmie Lou Fisher’s 2002 campaign for governor. He also helped get a sales tax passed to build a new stadium for the Arkansas Travelers, moving them from Little Rock to North Little Rock.    Before that, he owned the Family Entertainment video store chain for nearly 20 years. When he sold the business five years ago to Movie Gallery, he had 50 stores in Arkansas, Oklahoma and Missouri.     DREAM SEQUENCE     The production office on East Van Buren is the hub for all activity. Two desks are set up in Insalaco’s back office. Four cardboard boxes hold film canisters, and 32 cases of bottled Mountain Valley Spring Water line the back wall.    The movie is an Insalaco family affair. Insalaco’s daughter, Elizabeth, is production coordinator for the film. She has been making movies since she was very young, and she came home from her job in Studio City, Calif., to work on War Eagle, Arkansas. Her best friend, Lisa Banks, is assistant production coordinator.    On Tuesday, the War Eagle, Arkansas crew spent the morning at a church near Green Forest, then they headed west across Carroll County to the Hog Scald Falls area of Beaver Lake.    The men and women of the crew wore tank tops, T-shirts, shorts and straw hats, trying to keep cool on a blistering hot August day. Just after noon, they unloaded tables, chairs, tents, box fans and film equipment from several vans and trucks.    Past a chalet-style cabin, the trees and shrubbery gave way to worn rocks with curved edges that stair-stepped down to the water. Trees protruded from the water and a bluff rose up in the background.    This is where the crew would film a dream sequence that included a wooden coffin floating on the lake.    “He's kind of drowning in the water,” Insalaco says of Enoch in this scene. Then, the character rises to the water’s surface and sees the coffin there.    Insalaco plans to feature “indigenous Arkansas music” in the soundtrack.    “It’s not really country. It’s not really folk. And it’s not really bluegrass. It’s a blend of all of that,” he says.    He’s talking to specific bands — some of them based in the state — but he can’t yet name names.    Insalaco says his film really focuses on the positive attributes of the state — its beauty, its community-minded people and its indigenous music.    “We wanted to pick the prettiest parts of the state to film in,” Insalaco says.    He notes the state’s variety of geographic features, and he hopes his film encourages other filmmakers to set up their cameras here.    Insalaco describes a scene filmed at War Eagle, Arkansas, with Abby and Enoch sitting near the creek, the historic War Eagle, Arkansas bridge and mill in the background.    It was the “magic hour” for photography as the sun starts to fade, leaving the air golden. The cinematographer, who dropped a project he was working on in Mexico for this job, saw the light and immediately reacted.    “He saw it. He got it,” Insalaco says.    It’s been surreal for Insalaco to see this story come to life on film, scene by scene.    “That was just a figment of my imagination five years ago, and there it is,” he says. Extras wanted    Hundreds of extras will be needed Saturday for the filming of a scene from the independent film, War Eagle. It’s a pivotal scene involving an All-Star baseball game, to be shot at Fayetteville High School baseball field, 1001 Stone St., in Fayetteville.    Participants should arrive no later than 7:30 p.m. and be prepared to be there for several hours. They should bring lawn chairs, picnic blankets, food and plenty of water. There will be entertainment and drawings for prizes.    People are encouraged to wear sports fan attire, including those with the Razorbacks logo. No other printed logos are allowed in the movie.    More information is available at (479) 253-6284 or www.wareaglethemovie.com.