‘Magician’s Raincoat’
Magical adventure movie being filmed around Hot Springs
Film crews were in the Spa City this week shooting “The Magician’s Raincoat,” a feature film in which three kids discover a magical raincoat that transports them into the body of a cursed magician.
Produced by Brian Vilim, who is also the cinematographer on the film, and directed by Stephen Shimek, the movie stars Ashton Leigh, Laura Shatkus, Bryson Robinson, Jake Alexander Williams, Lisa Fenimore, Taylor Bedford, and Tom Reed, among others.
The family-friendly film, based on Nick Pollack’s children’s book of the same name, tells the story of a witch who, some 86 years earlier, cursed a magician to spend the rest of his days trapped inside of a raincoat. Cut to present day, three kids become intertwined in the mystery and try to reverse the curse.
Much of the film was shot in downtown Hot Springs, including a week at the Malco Theatre, as well as at Hot Springs World Class High School, Wildwood Bed and Breakfast, and a few houses off Park Avenue and in Eastgate II.
Scheduled to be delivered in December, Low Key Arts’ film program director, Jennifer Gerber, said they hope to have a local screening during the early part of next year.
“It’s certainly something we’re working towards,” she said. “We’d love to show off all the hard work. For this community, there’s a lot to celebrate, and also Hot Springs is just so cinematic. So we wanted to show everyone all their hard work on screen and we’re hoping to make that happen.”
Gerber said the film may be incorrectly listed as “The Magical Raincoat” in some
places online, such as IMBD.
Several students in her Inception to Projection class are working on their first professional film set for the movie. She said she received a call from Vilim, husband of actress Joey Lauren Adams, back in March, who told her the movie was coming to town and asked if she would like to help.
Prepping over the last couple months, shooting began three weeks ago and was scheduled to wrap Thursday.
“It’s just been such an amazing experience seeing the community in Hot Springs rally around the story. You know, we’ve disrupted a few lives by blocking some streets and filming in people’s homes, but everyone’s been so gracious, so supportive … showing up to be background actors. And it just really reminds me of why I love living in Hot Springs and making movies here, just seeing how the community rallies around these projects,” Gerber said.
Shimek said he had been to Hot Springs one other time, but this was his first extended stay.
“This is a story that spans decades, I suppose, in the 1930s,” he said. “A misunderstanding occurs between, we’ll say a shortsighted magician, and a witch. And to punish the magician, the witch curses him to be trapped inside of his raincoat, where he remains for decades until a group of three kids discover that raincoat in their grandma’s attic and discover that when they put the raincoat on, they take on his adult stature and characteristics and things.
“When that starts happening, the witch starts realizing that the coat’s back in play and is trying to get the coat back. So yeah, it’s a lot of adventure. Very family-friendly sort of adventure film with a lot of really fun actors just kind of being able to play with these big characters doing fun stuff.”
He said filming in Hot Springs is a lot different from many other locations he has worked due to its overall proximity.
“We would go on location scouts and I would feel, based on the number of times we’ve turned around and gone down different side streets, that we were really far away. But then suddenly we’d take another left and be back on Central. And it’s like everything is just kind of like really close together and that’s been nice,” he said.
“Because we work 12-hour days and there’s not a lot of time to get home, go to sleep, wake up, come to work the next day, in between shoots. And so when set is really just maybe 10 minutes away, it makes that a lot more comfortable. So that’s been good.”
Brendan Burks, a film student from Benton who is a member of the set’s grip and electric team, said it has been a huge learning experience for him. Local student and fellow team member Caleb Rush also noted the value of
the experience.
“You can like learn as much as you want by watching videos, or reading, or even having people tell you about it, but nothing really compares to actually being on a set and watching professionals do their job, and like set everything up,” he said. “So it’s been really valuable in that way.”
“We’ve all worked on our own short films, and coming to a feature film like this, it’s a big step up,” said Texarkana native Gabriel Henk, also on the grip and electric team. “And being able to see the difference between us working on our own projects and working on something like this, it’s really beneficial.”
Upcoming sophomore at HSWCHS, John Sullivan, who is also a student in Gerber’s class, is an intern production assistant on the film. He said working on
set has been an enlightening experience.
“I was really surprised to see just how wonderful and, quite frankly, how awesome this really is. Of course, there are bigger productions, bigger scales, and I’m really happy to know that I can only go up and over from here,” he said.
Sullivan also participates in community theater at the Pocket Theatre.
“It’s been really awesome,” said Janie Gentry, a production assistant who is attending the University of Central Arkansas. “Everyone here is really nice and great, and honestly I feel like I’ve seen that it’s possible to make a movie in Hot Springs. Like, you can totally do it. There’s enough people here to do it and everyone here’s really enthusiastic and passionate, and that’s awesome. That’s really exciting.”