Local Short ‘Convicts & Chocolate’ Filmed On Actual ‘Con Air’ Plane Premieres at Carbon County Film Festival

NEWS

Cast and crew of "Convicts & Chocolate" on set of "Con Air" plane at the historic Wendover Airfield

Brandie Lee McDonald's short film, produced by New Ogden Cinema, is a parody of “Con Air” and “Forrest Gump,” premiering this weekend at the Carbon Shortcuts Film Festival in Helper, Utah. The festival celebrates 100 years of film history in Utah.

The Ogden-made film, “Convicts & Chocolate,” written and directed by McDonald was filmed on the actual “Con Air” plane at the historic Wendover Airfield in July.

The film stars local actors BJ Whimpey, Ryan McDonald, Charles Cook, Michael Rathburn, Elmer Acevedo-Garcia, Alec Combe, Michael “Sarge” Tavar, Adam Estada, Lance Nelson, Paddy Teglia, and more. 

Ryan McDonald, co-founder of New Ogden Cinema with Jason White, entered the debut Carbon County Film Festival in June and encouraged McDonald, his partner and fellow filmmaker at the production company, to direct the film. But it wasn’t until the team was assigned the theme for the short film, “Con Air” or “Forrest Gump,” that she became interested.

“Once I understood the assignment, I immediately said ‘yes’!” Brandie McDonald said. “This felt very personal to me as my father worked on the set of ‘Con Air’ and Ryan and I just visited Paramount Studios this year and sat on the original ‘Forrest Gump’ bench on the lot.”

The film had to be under 10 minutes and include a “coal” element and references to any historical landmarks from the original films. 

McDonald has directed three short films and produced 14 films (two feature-length). The last time she wrote and directed a project was in 2019 for her short film, “Quiet on Set.”  She’s written many short screenplays and two feature-length film screenplays and produced other projects locally for New Ogden Cinema and in the United Kingdom (Raya Films) to support other filmmakers they met at a film festival in San Diego. 

Many of her films have won awards. She submitted ‘Quiet on Set’ to several festivals locally and abroad. It won Best Screenplay Semi-Finalist ( Reel Cinema Fest in Chicago), Honorable Mention at a film festival in London, Semi-Finalist, Night of Shorts, Comedy in Milan, Italy, Finalist at the Mimo Milano Mobile Film Festival, and Honorable Mention/Best Comedy Short/Screen Power at a London Film Festival.  

Screenwriter and director Brandie McDonald on set of "Convits & Chocolate" with cinemotographer Jesse Howell

Development

Brandie and Ryan promptly met with fellow collaborators and producers of the film, BJ Whimpey, and Danielle Bendinelli to brainstorm the project and ideas. 

Originally, McDonald pitched the idea of selecting the ‘Con Air’ theme to do a parody/spoof type of film. “As a child, I remember seeing one of my first comedy films,” she said. “It was Peter Sellers playing the Pink Panther in ‘A Shot in the Dark’ made in 1964. That was the gateway drug to comedy for me.” 

She fell in love with the “ever-so-clumsy” fictional character, Inspector Jacques Clouseau. “His incompetence and clumsiness as a police detective opened a genre to comedy that was susceptible to any type of audience. I was also inspired by silly type comedies like the ‘Naked Gun’ series, almost anything by the Zucker Brothers, films by Mel Brooks, that included the likes of Gene Wilder, Richard Pryor, Steve Martin, Martin Short, and comedy/action films like ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ or ‘Police Academy’ series were all on my radar in the 80s, 90s and still today. I always give them a revisit.”

Co-producers Whimpey and Bendinelli had the idea of having the Tom Hanks, Forrest Gump character to play the Nicholas Cage character, Cameron Poe in McDonald’s “Con Air” parody.

“It was genius!” McDonald said. “Cameron Poe and Forrest Gump both have similar character traits, skills, wants, and desires in their films respectively. It made sense!”

Whimpey, a renowned film and stage actor, delivered a line of dialogue in the Forrest Gump accent for the team over coffee at Kaffe Mercantile in Ogden, and McDonald immediately knew she wanted him to play the Forrest Gump character in her film. 

With no time to waste, McDonald dived into the script, completed it in no more than 10 days and was ready to shoot in less than two weeks. “Because of the quick turnaround time, I was open to improvising and coming up with ideas on the fly with the team during shooting,” she said. 

Production

The production was on a very shoestring budget and tight timeline. The shoot, sound, final pickup shots, music, and editing had to be completed and submitted to the festival by Aug. 5.

After the team scored permission to use the real “Con Air” plane at Historic Wendover Airfield McDonald quickly adjusted the script. She initially wrote the principal photography and action on a bus, provided by Jackson Mobile Service. They shot at locations around Ogden, Farr West, Plain City Ogden Airport… and Wendover, Utah. 

Bendinelli had reached out to the Wendover Airfield Museum to make the initial contact, and McDonald had ongoing discussions about the details of filming on the plane. They also had a second location in the pool area from the scene in the ‘Con Air’ film where Steve Buscemi’s character is playing dolls and having tea with a little girl. 

“It’s a suspenseful/horrifying scene to watch,” Brandie said. “Once I knew we had the pool, I wrote in a quick scene with our characters the week before filming to utilize the pool area. It’s a quick moment in our film but adds a little silliness to the seriousness that our characters are playing to.”

Photos of cast and crew on set the “Con Air” plane (left to right): Director Brandie McDonald with her father Michael Rathburn who portrays the John Malcovich character; BJ Whimey as “Forrest Gump” character; Ryan McDonald in the cockpit with Director of Photography Jesse Howell; BJ Whimpey in a scene with Charles Cook as “Baby Bubba”

Casting

It was known from the start that BJ Whimpey and Ryan McDonald would star in the movie, and the rest of the cast was built around them. 

“I wanted our ‘Baby Bubba’ character to really gel with BJ Whimpey as they were going to play best friends, and I wanted it to feel natural,” said McDonald. Bendinelli recommended theater actor Charles Cook thinking he’d play well against Whimpey’s character, and after a virtual call McDonald knew he’d be “perfect.” 

“Baby Bubba was created off the idea of the same actor, Mykelti Williamson who happens to play both characters, Baby-O in ‘Con Air’ and Bubba Gump in ‘Forrest Gump,’” said McDonald. Her father, Michael Rathburn, wanted to play the role of our John Malkovich character. “He was suited in the sense they had similar physical traits, but he also had the opportunity to work on the set of ‘Con Air’ and spent time with John Malkovich behind the scenes,” she said.

The rest of the cast was filled with willing participants from the community who McDonald thought were well-fit and would do a “fantastic job.” Looking for security guard/inmate types, she approached Michael “Sarge” Tovar at Harp n’ Hound.She said Adam Estrada was happy to play one of the Malkovich henchmen. I approached a friend, Elmer Acevedo-Garcia to play the offbeat, friendly, psychopath Johnny 23 character.

The Steve Buscemi character didn’t come until three days before filming. McDonald was having dinner one night with friends and spoke with Alec Combe, who she realized would be great for the part. That night, she included the part of Garland Greene in the script. “Two days later, he showed up and was ready to wear a full canvas restraint suit with a Hannibal Lector mask,” she said. “It was hot on both shooting days, and he handled it like a champ. His character doesn’t say much in the film, but it is visually terrifying and funny on screen. You can see the terror come through with just his eyes and the way he moves.” 

The final piece to this puzzle was adding some original music. McDonald wanted a film score with some light Forrest Gump elements and high-pitched guitar, rock n roll sounds for the hero moments. Film composer Joshua Sohn understood the project and delivered a final character to the film. “The original score was completed and adds so much depth to the film. It was perfect,” she said.

Not surprisingly, things didn’t all go smoothly during the shoot. 

McDonald said there were mishaps like forgetting to shoot a scene before two of the actors had to leave by 1 p.m. and needing to create scenes with lots of blood without leaving damage to the plane, resolved on the fly with helpful collaboration and the pivots handled with understanding.

“It was a very fun and organic process,” McDonald said. “I couldn’t have done it without our cast and crew. Everyone had a very ‘yes’! can-do attitude and that helped and smoothed things out. Even when it was hot, we had long days, they showed up with a smile on their faces ready to go!”

The screening of “Convicts & Chocolate” is FREE and open to the public on Aug. 16, with encore screening and awards to follow on Aug. 17. 

The Carbon Short Cuts Film Festival, part of the Helper Arts Festival, is happening Friday, Aug. 16 through Saturday, Aug. 17. Visit the website for tickets and info. 

Media disclaimer: I had the opportunity to join the cast and crew on set for a day and a glimpse into the art of filmmaking. To my surprise, there was more laughter than sweat on that 100-degree July day making “movie magic” inside the “Con Air” plane.