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July 24, 2008

Indie film crew shooting in area

By Dustin Shipman

dshipman@joplinglobe.com

WEBB CITY, Mo. — A “Soft Rot” has come to town.

Sleuth Foot Ltd., a New York-based film company, was in downtown Webb City on Thursday to shoot scenes for an upcoming movie.

Amy Glickman, director and producer of “Soft Rot,” said scenes for the independent movie will be filmed in Webb City, Joplin and Miami, Okla. She said the locations were chosen because of the area’s “down-home” feel.

“Basically we came here to film because we wanted a place that still had that sort of American element,” Glickman said. “We’re from New York, so locations like this don’t really exist out there. This place has great character. The look is great, and the feel is great.

“The people here have been really great and helpful. Anything that they could possibly do has been offered, and they have been really easy to work with.”

She said the film is about a failed chef and his wife, who finds out that she has a terminal illness. The couple move from New York to Oklahoma, and along the way the husband decides that he wants to die with his wife. The story becomes more complex when a cousin shows up and revives the wife’s will to live.

“It is sort of a Romeo and Juliet-type love story, very tragic, with horror elements,” Glickman said.

Filming began in January and is expected to wrap up next summer, she said. The release date will be roughly four months after filming is completed. Glickman said plans are in the works to screen “Soft Rot” in local theaters once it is completed.

The scene being filmed Thursday in Webb City was a confrontation between two actresses outside an old gas station at Liberty Avenue and Daugherty Street. The scene begins with a loud oral argument that escalates into a fight.

“This is a fight scene that we are shooting, so some people have pulled up wondering what was going on,” Glickman said. “At first I think they were sort of startled. We have had a few looks, but overall we are more than happy to be here and let the people be a part of it since everyone has been so great.”

One of the reasons the area was chosen for filming is that the writer of the script, J.D. Brown, is from the Lake of the Ozarks area. Brown was familiar with Joplin and the surrounding towns.

“I love this region, and if nothing else this was an excuse to come home,” Brown said. “The whole community has been incredibly supportive. I have worked in New York and Los Angeles, and many times when you are trying to get a location, it is a constant problem. But here it is amazing. You say ‘movie,’ and people’s eyes light up.”

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