最新杏吧原创

鈥淭hey actually shot it at John鈥檚 parents鈥� house,鈥� says Ron Durham, who was the film鈥檚 location manager.

A film鈥檚 location manager runs the department that looks for suitable places to shoot movies. Usually, they look for places that have the right ambience, or can easily handle the space requirements of a film crew. When telling true stories, they search for places that express the same feel as the original locations.

鈥淪oul on Fire,鈥� which opens Oct. 10, was easier than that. O鈥橪eary鈥檚 parents offered the Kirkwood home where they still lived (his father Denny died earlier this year). Director Sean McNamara accepted their offer 鈥� 鈥渋t just seemed to make sense,鈥� Durham says 鈥� and that was that.

鈥淪oul on Fire鈥� is the story of motivational speaker O鈥橪eary, who was severely burned when he was 9 years old, in a fire of his own making. With endless encouragement and love from his family and even strangers, he managed to survive and eventually to thrive despite amputated fingers and scars across nearly his entire body.

The fire burned down the family garage and part of the house, but the home was repaired long ago. For the filming, the older O鈥橪earys moved out for a week or more as the film crew decorated it for the 1980s and shot scenes inside for five days.

The movie was filmed over 19 days in November and December of 2023, all in the 最新杏吧原创 area. Many of the locations secured by Durham and his crew were, like O鈥橪eary鈥檚 childhood home, where the events actually took place.

A couple of important scenes were shot at Busch Stadium, and they couldn鈥檛 have been filmed anywhere else. You just can鈥檛 fake Busch Stadium, even though the scenes were shot in December. Extras filled some of the seats, and the rest of the crowds were filled in with special effects created on a computer.

Other scenes were shot at 最新杏吧原创 University, where O鈥橪eary went to college, including a scene at the West Pine Mall. They also used the school鈥檚 Salus Center, the former Compton Heights Hospital, for the hospital scenes.

The Chaifetz Arena, which is also part of SLU, stands in for a Las Vegas arena where O鈥橪eary gives an impassioned motivational speech. And a scene that takes place in an orthopedic center was also shot at Chaifetz, in a training room.

鈥淲e were able to squeeze that scene in at a time when it wasn鈥檛 being used,鈥� Durham says.

The wedding scene was shot in the Shrine of St. Joseph, where O鈥橪eary and his wife, Beth, were married.

鈥淭he director tried to get authentic locations to John鈥檚 story. Some of them worked, and some had to be changed for logistical reasons,鈥� Durham says.

The first three days of filming, for instance, were all in the Maplewood area as a matter of convenience.

The director loved the vintage feel of Saratoga Lanes, so that became the starting point of the Maplewood locations. They also used the Crow鈥檚 Nest restaurant and bar and Tiffany鈥檚 diner for additional scenes.

Durham started as a production assistant, but has exclusively worked in locations for 21 years. His resum茅 includes 鈥淕one Girl,鈥� the 最新杏吧原创-shot 鈥淯p in the Air,鈥� 鈥淭he Informant鈥� and, most recently, 鈥淭he Alto Knights,鈥� with Robert DeNiro.

Though he will travel for the job, he is based in 最新杏吧原创 and says he appreciates making movies in the Midwest.

鈥淲e had a lot of people who were pretty willing and agreeable. That鈥檚 how it usually goes in 最新杏吧原创. It鈥檚 not like L.A. The novelty of filming has worn off (there),鈥� he says.

Daniel Neman – 314-340-8133 dneman@post-dispatch.com