Local faces and settings hit the big screen on Oct. 31, as Premiere Cinemas in Hollister held a one-time screening of the movie “Man From Reno.” The murder-mystery features locations from San Benito County and local extras within some of those places.
“We were able to go to the place that worked the best for our story,” said Dave Boyle, the movie’s director. “For us, that was San Francisco and San Benito County.”
The movie switched between the two settings as a small-town sheriff and a Japanese crime novelist both get drawn into the same multi-faceted murder mystery. The movie is heavy on styling and foreshadowing, including character introductions. For example, San Benito’s foggy roads play a role in establishing a sheriff who cannot see what’s ahead of him. Astute viewers will notice the many hints to the mystery, character motivations, and ultimate fates which are placed throughout the movie from the get-go.
“San Benito County had a lot to offer,” said Boyle. “One of the big things it has is atmosphere, a timeless feel to it. It had the kind of scenery that we needed to make the movie work.”
One easily-identifiable place within the movie is the front of Hollister’s city hall. Other places take familiarity with the back roads and building interiors to spot.
The San Benito County locations within the movie take place in fictional San Marco County. “It’s supposed to be a little closer, maybe 45 minutes south of San Francisco, somewhere around the San Jose area,” said Boyle. “We definitely took some liberties with the geography.”
The artistic license pays off, as the characters in the two regions need to interact, and sometimes timing is critical.
Boyle first shot in the area when he worked on his prior movie, “Daylight Savings,” which also had scenes shot in San Benito County. He credited a friend with the familiarity, saying, “Kurt Kurasaki is the whole reason I know about San Benito County and the whole reason I’ve come back so many times.” The experience of filming “Daylight Savings,” “was so good,” Boyle said, “it made me want to come back and do something that was a little more suited to the atmosphere here. Mainly, a suspense mystery.”
When asked about locals who were instrumental in the movie’s production, Boyle said, “Almost too many to mention.” He later added, “The Hollister Red Cross, they were great. They let us turn their whole office into a sheriff’s station.
Boyle also noted, “(Sheriff’s Deputy) Rich Brown acts in the movie and has a speaking role, also advised on some of the law enforcement stuff. He acted in ‘Daylight Savings’ as well and is an all-around great guy and lots of fun to have around.”
He also thanked Joe Zanger “for letting us shoot on his property near Casa de Fruta.”
“It’s fun and a nice way to get things going in the community,” said Kurasaki, who let Boyle use some locations around his property near San Juan Bautista.
Hollister resident Ruth Erickson assisted with location scouting and helped find local extras. “I was an extra in the other movie that he made,” she said of her role in “Daylight Savings.” “When they came back a couple years later, they wanted to make another movie, but they needed a location scout around here.Within San Benito County, you have to know a lot of people and a lot of places, which I do.”
Erickson said there were five extras, including herself, from San Benito County, mostly for the hospital and sheriff’s office scenes. Regarding the locations, she said, “If you know some of San Juan and Hollister, you’ll recognize the places. Like the big fields, the hills, and the roads around here. You’ll know where the road was that they filmed the crash.”
Among the crowd present for the movie’s screening were people who had been in or helped with Man from Reno or Boyle’s prior films. Goh Nakamura, the star of “Daylight Savings,” was present. Also in the theater were some of the local extras, such as Jeanee Vargas, who played a nurse in the hospital scenes.
“I loved it and the whole process,” said Vargas of her time as an extra. She watched the film with her husband, Mike, who said it was great to see Jeanee on the big screen.
Vargas said she had not been an extra prior to her appearance in “Man From Reno.” “Ruth Erickson asked if I wanted to be an extra in a movie and I said sure,” Vargas explained. “I’ve always been interested in movies and entertainment.”
A question-and-answer session was held with the audience from the movie, during which Boyle discussed a wide range of incoming topics, from budget challenges, to future plans, to offers to buy trucks, to realistic gunshot depictions, to production timing, and more.
“Man From Reno” was the winner of the Best Narrative Feature Award at the 2014 Los Angeles Film Festival. The movie, starring Pepe Serna, Ayako Fujitani and Kazuki Kitamura, is filmed in English and in Japanese with English subtitles. It has been shown across the United States and Canada, as well as the Osaka Film Festival in Japan. More information can be found at www.manfromrenomovie.com.
When asked if he had future filming plans in the area, Boyle said, “I don’t have anything that’s currently planned to shoot here, but I’ll take any excuse to come back.”
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