She said always wanted to direct a movie in her hometown, especially in the revitalized downtown.
She was scouting potential locations for another movie when she realized “A Bachelor’s Valentine” was “a great film to shoot” in Middletown.
“The area represents the story,” Read told the Journal-News in January. “It has the charm.”
Some of the scenes were shot at The Swire Inn, White Dog Saloon, BeauVerre Riordan Stained Glass Studios, the homes of Dan and Fran Sack and John and Avinne Kiser, the Council Chambers in the City Building, Brown’s Run County Club dining room, Governor’s Square and along the Great Miami River.
“I wanted to do it right in my hometown,” she said this week.
The movie still has no release date, and the trailer says “coming soon.”
Watch the trailer for “A Bachelor’s Valentine” here:
More than a dozen films have been shot in Butler County, including some scenes from the movie version of J.D. Vance’s book “Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and a Culture in Crisis.” The Netflix movie directed by Ron Howard starred Amy Adams and Glenn Close.
Read said in January she hopes the film will be released early next year just before Valentine’s Day.
She called the 12 days of winter filming “pretty quick for a feature film.”
This is her fourth feature film and viewing a completed project is “very gratifying” when it’s celebrated with the entire crew, she said.
In “A Bachelor’s Valentine,” Claire Knapp (Layla Cushman) moves to Paul Bachelor’s (Brian Gaskill) small town, and they try to repair their damaged lives while working together to benefit the entire community. But Knapp’s vindictive ex-husband Stuart Knapp (Vernon Wells, “Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior,” “Commando,” and “Power Rangers”) will do anything he can to keep that from happening.
Read called it “a feel good film.”
For the scenes shot in the the Sack home, Fran and Dan had to remove all items off their walls, but were allowed to keep the family photos in place.
Then the Sacks were filmed eating dinner at The Swire Inn. She is looking forward to watching the movie.
“That will be interesting,” she said in January, when the film crew was in Middletown. “People always say when they see themselves, they always wish they were a little taller, a little slimmer.”
Mike Dranschak, owner of the White Dog, plays a bartender and has a speaking part, he said. He said some of the bar’s “regulars” are featured in a scene that was shot there.
Staff writer Rick McCrabb contributed to this report.
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