Waking Up in Reno
This is the original poster for the movie; however, the name has once again been changed to "Waking Up in Reno" and not "Wakin' Up in Reno" and a new revised poster has been produced.. This road-type picture has been pushed back 2 or 3 times now, and now has a 2002 estimated release.
"Waking Up in Reno" follows two couples as they travel to a monster truck show in Reno, Nevada. One couple, Lonnie Earl and Darlene Dodd, is played by Billy Bob Thornton and Natasha Richardson (whose husband Liam Neeson co-starred with Patrick in "Next of Kin"), while the other, Roy and Candy Kirkendall, is played by Patrick and Charlize Theron. En route, some hanky panky takes place, but not among the "appropriate" spouses!
Excerpts from By Don Cox's 2000 article in the Reno Gazette-Journal:
Phil Bryan's career as a movie star was doomed before the cameras rolled Tuesday at downtown Reno's Cal Neva Virginian Hotel Casino."I'm never going to make it, I'm afraid," Bryan, the Cal Neva Virginian president, said with a laugh. "I haven't gone through acting school."
But Bryan is on film. So are Cal Neva employees Cathy Dillon, Troy Watson, Missy Travis and Jeff Siri.
Bryan and his co-workers were cast as a casino craps table crew in "Wakin' Up in Reno," a comedy starring Patrick Swayze and Billy Bob Thornton.
Scenes from the movie, about two couples on a road trip from Arkansas to Reno, are being shot downtown this week.
The movie's shooting locations are closed to the public. Robin Holabird, deputy director of the Nevada Film Office, said the crew of "Wakin' Up" will be filming in downtown Reno the rest of the week but declined to give specific locations.
"The public isn't really encouraged to show up," Holabird said.
But it does.
Customers standing on the Cal Neva's mezzanine balcony were able to watch gambling scenes being shot on the club's casino floor.
Nobody chased the spectators away.
Bryan didn't have a speaking part, but he did talk in the scene.
"What we did was the normal conversation that goes around those games," said Bryan. "We did our normal instruction."
Swayze, Thornton and the movie's other main actors were the craps players.
Holabird said it's easier for a film crew to shoot a real casino in Reno than create a fake one in Hollywood.
"It's pretty difficult to fake a casino," she said.
"You can see (fake) casinos in different TV shows. You see three slot machines. In a real casino, you get all the noise and decor."
Film Force has a very interesting article on their website about the production of "Waking Up in Reno". Please visit the site for the complete piece. Excertps from the Paul Davidson article are included below:
IGN FilmForce had the opportunity to talk to Deborah Ross and Hornet effects designer Robin Roepstorff about their work on an upcoming movie – Miramax's Wakin' Up in Reno.This comical "Road Trip" for adults is brought to life with numerous cut-scenes that feature a 3D version of the couples' SUV trekking across an AAA-inspired highway map, with America's various landmarks and roadside attractions whizzing by.
Once hired, Ross and Roepstorff were given the job of bringing a U.S.A. roadmap and a red sports-utility vehicle to life. In particular, they were inspired by AAA's "Trip Tiks" roadmaps – customized travel maps that indicate optimal travel routes and attractions along the way. "first we gave [Miramax] three or four different ideas of how this could come alive," says Roepstorff. "It was mainly wtih the map growing in front of [the vehicle], map elements coming alive, forming with them, popping up in front of them as they come along."
Another challenge, and something that Miramax wanted particularly, was that the computer-generated vehicle had to be endowed with the characteristics of its collective occupants. "I knew that we would have to make something really terrific out of this," explains Ross. "We knew there were all kinds of characteristics about the people in the car, what they were eating, thinking, doing – we had to make it come alive."
Wakin' Up in Reno was not without its production difficulties. Director Jordan Brady left the production about a year ago, and a new crew had to be brought in to finish up the movie. Ross and Roepstorff continued working with executive producer Jeremy Cramer, and they managed to successfully complete work on the movie without too many hitches.
Assuming these scenes make the final edit, here are a few moments from "Waking Up in Reno" that I get a chuckle from:
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A Susan Lucci cameo where the shopping channel host says to her, "I am your biggest fan" prompting Darlene to scoff "You said the same thing to Barbra Streisand." However, I don't think Barbra has ever been anywhere close to a shopping network! Reminder: this is from an early script and there is no indication that this scene was filmed, but it did make for some fun reading! |
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Lonnie Earl doing his Cal Worthington bit! Background note: the Dodd family owns a car dealership. It's one of the SUV's from the lot that Lonnie Earl takes on the vacation (should I mention that he has the odometer unhooked before departing for Reno?) |
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Being a fan of "The Andy Griffith Show, hearing Roy utter, "Backwards as Ernest T. Bass" would be a hoot! |
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Roy decides to join the two ladies in a hotel pool for a swim. Of course, they are not registered at the hotel, so they sneak into the pool area. The script notes Roy enters the area, holding a beer and towel. It goes on to say, "He sets a beer and the towel on a table and takes a running leap into the pool. In mid-air, he can't decide if he's going in feet first or head first. He lands in an obviously painful belly flop." Poor Patrick; if this scene survived the editing cuts, I hope he shot it in one take! |
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"Yeeeeeehaaaaaw!", exclaimed by Roy, which can only remind me of "Letters from a Killer"! |
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Darlene: "Oh, for crying out loud, Roy. Don't you see? This isn't Reno. This is Melrose Place." |
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Roy and the Spanish Woman, played by Penelope Cruz (has to be fun to watch; sounds like a couple of very nice scenes but I do not want to spoil it for everyone). |
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The monster truck rally itself, and to say more than that would be to spoil the ending! It's a very interesting ending, not really Doris Day Hollywood, but not sad either, and not disappointing to others like myself who love happy endings. |
Older news about "Wakin' Up in Reno", previously on the NewsFlash Page:
"Wakin' Up in Reno" is a project has been around for several years at Miramax Films, where country singer Dwight Yoakum first signed in 1997 to produce the movie. Billy Bob Thornton of "Slingblade" fame agreed to star and co-produce the movie soon thereafter. The "redneck" comedy focuses on two couples heading to Reno from Arkansas for a monster truck rally. For a time, current heartthrobs Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston were close to being signed to star in the flick, but the deal fell through in November 1999.
"Waking Up in Reno" is being directed by Jordan Brady and was written by pals of Thornton and Yoakum named Brent Briscoe and Mark Fauser, both from Arkansas! Executive Producer will be Robert Salerno while Ben Myron will also co-produce.
Patrick agreed to join the project shortly before Christmas. Filming took place in Amarillo and Reno and continued in Los Angeles. Natasha Richardson who co-starred with Dennis Quaid in "The Parent Trap" also co-stars. Richardson and Thornton portray one couple, with Patrick and Charlize Theron who appeared in "Mighty Joe Young" the other twosome. Thornton, by the way, has a Swayze connection from the past, having starred in the failed short-lived tv series "The Outsiders". Look for more updates here as they become available!
Release Pushed Back to October 25, 2002Domestic Box Office: $TBDTBD Minutes, Rated TBD, from MiramaxFilmed in: California (Los Angeles); Nevada (Reno); Texas
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