A little Central Texas town is about to welcome some very big, Hollywood stars. The Coen brothers are shooting their next movie just about an hour from Austin. The new, True Grit will star Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon and Josh Brolin. The stars are not in town yet since filming doesn't start until the last week of April, but the production design team has been hard at work since December. One look at downtown Granger is proof.
The original True Grit, released in 1969 and starring John Wayne, was shot exclusively in Colorado.
In the remake, Granger will depict Fort Smith, Arkansas as it was back in 1875.
"It needed to be post civil war and there's a lot of interesting brick buildings here with interesting shapes on the top," said Jess Gonchor, the production designer for True Grit.
For the last couple of months, nothing but Texas talent has been used to transform downtown Granger back in time.
"Working on westerns is fun because you have to make it all look old and that's more of a challenge than just painting something that is modern day, this was all brand new wood 4 days ago and now it looks like it's been here a while," said Julie Guimont, a scenic artist from Austin.
Much of what is going up for filming, like building facades, awnings and balconies will come down once shooting is complete. But, depending on agreements between business owners and the production companies, some of the renovations like new doors and windows may remain. That spirit of cooperation is something that hasn't gone unnoticed by the production company.
"Everybody in the town has been super cooperative, I don't know a lot of places where you could go and um sort of take over like this, certainly where I live in New York you couldn't do that," said Gonchor.
"Granger is so dead so we need some excitement," said Gloria Bartosh, who has lived in Granger since 1973.
Bartosh and her husband Bennie live near the film-facelift. Gloria says for the most part the construction has been exciting, but there are times....
"It's kind of a pain in the butt," she said with a hearty laugh.
But Bennie Bartosh isn't complaining and is focusing on some movie motivation of his own.
"Well I'm going to try to sneak in that movie some kind of way," he said.
Mayor Scott Murrah told me one of the keys to Granger and True Grit becoming a true fit was the recent state legislation that offers filmmakers incentives to work in Texas. Murrah says when the production company turns in their receipts for those rebates he'll have a better idea of the economic impact the film has on Granger.
