Last Updated on December 6, 2023, 12:11 PM | Published: December 6, 2023
Now that Martin Scorsese’s locally shot “Killers of the Flower Moon” has been released into the world, sparking some integral and challenging conversations about our state’s history and its place within America’s great experiment, it seems that more eyes than ever are looking at film production in Oklahoma.
The past few years have seen a generational boom in both the number and scale of movie productions in our state, spurred by hefty tax incentives, Hollywood-level facilities like Prairie Surf Studios, and successful productions like Sterlin Harjo’s “Reservation Dogs” and the Sylvester Stallone-starring “Tulsa King.”
Luckily, it’s looking like Stallone’s comments about the Oklahoma summer’s hellish heat have done nothing to dissuade future productions because cinemas are about to be overrun with Oklahoma-shot films in the next few years.
In 2024 alone, you can expect to see some youthful, provocative indies, a biopic that’s likely to be as controversial as its subject, and a massive-budget follow-up to the movie that first put our state on Hollywood’s radar nearly three decades ago.
Music and film
by Brett Fieldcamp
Sponsored by True Sky Credit Union
‘The Line’
Shot well before a lot of these other, higher-profile recent releases got off the ground, director Ethan Berger’s “The Line” actually premiered earlier this year at NYC’s Tribeca Film Festival, but despite plenty of positive reviews, no distributor or wide release date have yet been announced.
Still, with indie distributors always looking for the next big youth-oriented hit, and with streamers like Netflix lately snatching up loads of small-budget fare, odds are good that we’ll be able to catch this OKC Metro-shot college drama in the coming year.
Centering on the darker, drug-addled, soul-deserting side of the modern college experience, “The Line” was shot in and around Norman and OU and boasts a pretty remarkable cast of notables, including John Malkovich, Halle Bailey of 2023’s “The Little Mermaid,” and Angus Cloud of “Euphoria” fame in his final role.
‘Twisters’
The long-awaited (?) follow-up to one of the biggest blockbusters of the 90s, “Twisters” is reportedly set to be an entirely new, updated story set within the world of meteorology and storm chasing, not the sequel that you might expect.
Again, a pretty stellar cast raises the interest level here, with breakouts Kiernan Shipka and Daisy Edgar-Jones headlining alongside the recently announced new Superman, David Corenswet, and even a particularly intriguing credit for TV on the Radio frontman Tunde Adebimpe.
But if you’re one of the (admittedly many) viewers that found the original “Twister” to be little more than low-brow disaster fare with questionable-at-best science pouted like gospel, then you’ll be especially interested to know that this one is being helmed by Oscar-nominee Lee Isaac Chung. As writer/director of Oklahoma-shot “Minari,” he’s proven how thoughtful, considered, and powerful his filmmaking can be, not to mention that he already knows his way around our state.
The previous “Twister” was one of the very first big-budget productions Oklahoma had ever seen, and Okies ate it up. So we’ll see if this one sparks the same kind of home state pride this time around.
‘Defiant Vanity’
A homegrown local production from the top down, the minds behind the upcoming “Defiant Vanity,” led by Oklahoman writer/director Benjamin Tefera, set out to make a ground-level, authentic story about modern youth and the vitality of young creativity.
Centering on a cast of students, close friends, and cross-medium artists, “Defiant Vanity” tackles some seriously timely questions about collaborative art and the ownership of ideas when a rift develops inside their collective, resulting in a standoff that Tefera describes as something like a courtroom drama.
The backdrop for all of this drama and electricity is OKC itself, with locations like The Plaza, Cookies on Western, and the Oklahoma City Museum of Art all taking center stage
But while Tefera and company wanted to showcase the aesthetics of their home and the artistic proving ground that it can be, they also wanted to bring together a cast culled from far and wide to create the same sense of creative diversity that drives the plot.
“We were able to showcase different artistic sensibilities and cultural influences,” Tefera told me, “by merging Oklahoma native actor LaRonn Marzett with New York and LA talent Clarissa Thibeaux and Sean Gunn and international talent Hannah Abdoh. All these unique and particular voices working towards the same goal created a very special and nuanced dynamic on set and especially on the screen.”
‘Reagan’
That’s right, the upcoming, long-in-development biopic of one of America’s most polarizing figures and most divisive Presidents was shot heavily around Oklahoma, including production in Guthrie, OKC, and Edmond.
The plot is pure Ronald Reagan, from his childhood through his presidency, and is reportedly heavily based on the books of conservative writer Paul Kengor, author of “God and Ronald Reagan: A Spiritual Life” and “11 Principles of a Reagan Conservative.” So it’s probably safe to expect a pretty softball hero’s journey full of jellybean references.
The production and distribution have suffered a number of setbacks since filming began all the way back in 2020, including a reportedly serious COVID outbreak among the cast and crew and extensive post-production and VFX costs needed to digitally de-age star Dennis Quaid. But it looks like they’re finally readying to unleash the film upon America. And in an election year, no less.
Brett Fieldcamp has been covering arts, entertainment, news, housing, and culture in Oklahoma for nearly 15 years, writing for several local and state publications. He’s also a musician and songwriter and holds a certification as Specialist of Spirits from The Society of Wine Educators.
