Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Filming in a pandemic
“Ghosts of the Ozarks,” shot in Arkansas, tells 1866 tale of Black doctor.
Covid-19 has closed theaters across the nation and stopped the production of new movies. In Arkansas, however, two groups of filmmakers are still working while acknowledging the danger or the virus.
The first of these productions is the 1866-set drama, “Ghosts of the Ozarks.” It’s a feature-length reworking of a 2016 short starring Thomas Hobson, who has appeared in “Poz Roz,” “NCIS: Los Angeles” and the cult classic “Free Enterprise.” Hobson and several of his past collaborators have returned for the longer version of the tale.
“Escapism is very important in these times of distress,” David Arquette (“Scream,” “Eight Legged Freaks”), one of Hobson’s co-stars and one of the film’s producers, says over a conference call. “What I loved about this script is that it takes place in a sort of utopian society. It’s incredible that so soon after the Civil War that people are treated equally, although there’s a scary underbelly.”
Co-director and co-writer Jordan Wayne Long adds: “The story is about a Black doctor (Thomas Hobson) who comes across a town deep in the Ozark Mountains that’s unlike anything he’s ever seen before. We kind of wanted to tell a story that parallels what’s going on today.”
The movie also imports Arkansas outsiders like Hobson,
Arquette, Tim Blake Nelson (the title character in “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs,” “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”) and Angela Bettis (“May,” “Girl, Interrupted”).
“The story originated in the Ozark Mountains and is something I’ve been thinking about for a long time, ” Long says. “There are other groups (utopian communities) in the Ozark Mountains that sort of inspired this story. It seemed like the perfect place to set this. [Co-director] Matt Glass and I and [co-writer-producer] Tara Perry and Tommy Hobson shot the short near Big Flatt, Ark. [split between Baxter and Searcy counties in the northern part of the state], and it was just beautiful. We started going on a hunt to see how we could shoot a feature here, and now, here we are.”
WHAT THE DOCTOR ORDERED
For any production shooting in 2020, there’s no getting around the omnipresent virus that has ended sporting events across the nation, and even the capital of make-believe, Hollywood is loathe to take chances with a disease that has killed at least 140,000 Americans to date.
SAG-AFTRA, the union most performers belong to, issues Do Not Work orders to productions they believe have taken insufficient measures to ensure cast and crew safety.
For example, the union shut down “Courting Mom & Dad,” which was to star Scott Baio and Kristy Swanson. They also shut down Joel Coen’s adaptation of “Macbeth” starring Denzel Washington until producers came up with a safety plan. Even a powerful producer like Michael Bay had to address a Do Not Work order before he could proceed with his forthcoming Los Angeles-shot film “Songbird.”
Long says getting union permission came with careful preparation.
“For us, it was how do we get back to work safely. How do we move forward in this new normal,” Long says.
“We went through months and months of ironing out protocols from mask-wearing to walking around sites where we’re going to film, seeing how many people we could have and how much distance we could create. We test all the extras, and we have them wearing masks even during scenes. When people are close up, they wear masks even on film. We worked closely with Dr. Charles Barber, who’s another Arkansan, who works at the White House.”
In addition to contact tracing, Matt Glass says, “Limitations make you fine-tune the things you’re working on.” Arquette adds, “They did this incredible thing in the rewrites, where they made this festival with these folk art animal masks. Under those masks, the extras can wear surgical masks.”
One essential provision that might escape notice is feeding the small independent crew. To minimize the chance of making the shoot an incubator for pathogens, Arquette and Long aren’t the only ones pulling double duty.
“I’d just like to add that Tara’s been incredible in not only playing the lead role in the film but in being sort of hands-on in the food department,” Arquette chimes in.
She replies, “I’m also producing and also catering. We set up our catering very, very early. A small specific change that we have to do is no more buffet style, like a typical wedding line. It’s individualized meals, and we’re feeding people three meals a day, instead of the typical meal at work to keep people from having to go out in the town. We’re all in the same hotel and on the same floor so we’re able to isolate together at work and outside of work as well.”
Arquette and his wife, Christina McLarty Arquette, had to isolate from each other for the safety of themselves and two small boys during the shoot.
She is a native of Hope (the birthplace of Bill Clinton and Mike Huckabee). The New York University and Northwestern alumna was a reporter for Little Rock’s KATV, and her background in prison counseling came in handy when she and her husband produced the documentary “Survivors Guide to Prison.” They also teamed up for the Jonesboro-shot feature “12 Hour Shift” and the documentary about David’s return to wrestling “You Cannot Kill David Arquette,” which both come out later this year.
To handle the financials of “Ghosts of the Ozarks,” she worked from Nashville while her husband was on the set.
“We were supposed to be together, but because of covid, we had to change our plans. In L.A., we were under some very strict stay-at-home orders. My mom is 67 and is high risk, so I had to make the tough decision, but it helps limit the number of people on set,” she says. “I bought a house in Nashville to be closer to Arkansas. I’m literally sitting in my living room, surrounded by notebooks and papers and computers. I have a whole production office set up here. My kids are locked in a room with my mom so I can do this interview (laughs).”
The movie also has a western interior and exterior set constructed at the old federal complex in Trumann. Long and his father, a master carpenter, guided the construction. The co-director’s own background in farming helped, too.
“Over the course of a year, they built this set and planted plants so they grew at certain times of the year, so [Jordan] could get a certain look that he loved. In typical filmmaking, you can never achieve such a feat,” Arquette says.
THE NEXT GENERATION
The makers of “Ghosts of the Ozarks” are quick to thank the Arkansas Cinema Society for helping smooth things over for the shoot. McLarty Arquette has recently joined the board. Her father, Francis B. “Bud” McLarty, the President of BMC Media, Inc., is already a member.
The organization’s Filmmaking Lab for Girls is putting together a short film of their own. For the second year in a row where 12 girls from the ages of 16 to 18 make a film with guidance from professionals like “Beasts of the Southern Wild” and “Troop Zero” screenwriter Lucy Alibar. All this month the girls have been putting together their movie despite the fact that covid-19 prevented them from meeting in person.
All of the meetings took place through Zoom, except for the shooting, which occurred at a park on Monday. According to ACS President Kathryn Tucker, “Everyone wore masks, tons of hand sanitizer, and I feel confident we did it as safely as we possibly could.”
The result will be “Superhuman,” which concerns a girl and her brother teaming up to find a Halloween costume that isn’t just for girls. The winning story pitch came from student filmmaker Anna Reynolds. “I was physically typing the screenplay while they were dictating over Zoom. We didn’t know if it would work, but it all seemed to work pretty well. The girls seemed really engaged despite the virtual platform,” Tucker says.
Tucker says having the Lab limited to girls has helped them build their confidence and to succeed in fields such as logistics and props that are often reserved for males. That said, she and the rest of the ACS would like to offer a similar program for boys. “We just don’t have a sponsor,” Tucker says.
In addition to providing content for people waiting for something to enjoy until the next season of “Stranger Things” or “Succession” starts getting underway, the filmmakers have been able to do something that is rare in today’s political climate.
They’ve been able to smooth things over with Democrats and Republicans. Arquette recalls meeting legislators in Little Rock who were unapologetic fans of “Scream,” even if the filmmakers are left-leaning. The fact that movies can bring jobs to the Natural State doesn’t hurt. Tucker adds, “We were already working with Republican legislators who were huge film advocates. To me, film is the kind of the perfect industry. It’s the art. It’s technology. It’s economic development, and it’s tourism for your state.”