Though the Tri-Cities may be over 1,000 miles away from the glitz and glamour of Southern California, that doesn’t mean this corner of the Pacific Northwest doesn’t get a little touch of Hollywood now and then. With its sun-soaked hillsides, river-carved horizons, and a landscape that shifts from vineyard rows to open desert in the span of a few miles, the Tri-Cities’ dramatic scenery practically rolls out the red carpet on its own. Here are some examples of when our community welcomed award-winning actors and visionary crews to our neck of the woods more than once to prove that movie magic is alive and well in the Columbia Valley!
Cement Suitcase is Prosser Perfection
If you manage to snag a 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, you must be doing something right. That is exactly what happened with the 2013 indie hit “Cement Suitcase,” which scored coveted perfect reviews from critics across the board.
The film tells the story of Franklin, a successful wine salesman whose life is falling apart. He’s miserable and fully aware his girlfriend is cheating on him, but it isn’t until he meets “the other man, who turns out to be a great guy, that Franklin decides it’s time to let go of his emotional baggage.
The film was written and directed by J. Rick Castaneda, who was born and raised in the Yakima Valley. After a decade in Los Angeles, Castaneda returned home to use the Prosser area as his backdrop, noting that no one had ever truly utilized its unique landscape for film before. If you watch closely, you’ll even spot a few local cameos, including an appearance by Stacy Lee from KNDU-TV!
Hello, My Name Is Frank Takes a Road Trip Through Richland, Kennewick and Pasco
Buckle up for a road trip through the Tri-Cities in the 2014 award-winning comedy “Hello, My Name is Frank.” The film stars Garrett M. Brown as Frank, a hermit with Tourette’s syndrome whose world is upended when his caregiver passes away. In a “modern-day Wizard of Oz meets Little Miss Sunshine” twist, the caregiver’s teenage daughter, Laura, recruits her friends to drag a reluctant Frank out of his shell and onto the open road for a life-changing trip to visit a friend’s grave on her 18th birthday.
Before the trio ever hit the highway, the production made local headlines by utilizing various neighborhoods to establish Frank’s world. Richland took a starring role as the site for Frank’s house, Flossie’s house, and even provided the backdrop for the film’s elementary and high school scenes.
The film also captures additional footage throughout Kennewick and Pasco. The Tri-Cities clearly provided the right kind of magic, as the film went on to win the Best Dramatic Feature Award at the Manhattan Film Festival, with Brown earning the Best Actor Award for his performance.
Devotion Takes Flight Over the Snake River
You might not have realized that the high-stakes aerial combat in the 2022 Korean War epic “Devotion” literally took flight right here in the Tri-Cities! The film tells the powerful true story of U.S. Navy pilots Lt. Tom Hudner and Ensign Jesse Brown, the Navy’s first Black aviator, and their incredible heroism and friendship during the war. Starring Jonathan Majors and Glen Powell, this $90 million production looked to our local geography to recreate the rugged terrain of the Korean Peninsula.
Antique planes were seen taking off from Pasco for several days, heading over to the Burbank area near Hood Park. The stunning aerial sequences were filmed along the Snake River, specifically the stretch between Highway 12 and Ice Harbor Dam. Watching these vintage fighters roar over the river gave locals a front-row seat to one of the most visually impressive war films in recent years.
If There’s a Hell Below Turns Kennewick Into a Neo-Noir Pressure Cooker
The cinematic, barren stretches of Eastern Washington provided the perfect atmosphere for the 2016 neo-noir thriller “If There’s a Hell Below.” While filming in and around Kennewick and Yakima, production leaned into the stark, wide-open desolation of the desert landscape to amplify the film’s suspense. The result is a setting that feels both breathtaking and unnervingly empty as a place where secrets echo louder simply because there’s nowhere for them to hide.
The story follows Abe, an ambitious Chicago journalist who travels west to meet Debra, a national-security whistleblower who’s looking to talk, but in a spot that guarantees isolation. What begins as a tense conversation in the middle of nowhere quickly unravels into a high-stakes standoff, where trust evaporates and survival becomes the objective. Against the stark, open vistas surrounding Kennewick, the film turns the landscape into an unforgiving accomplice.
The Half-Life of Genius Physicist Raemer Schreiber Documents Hanford’s History
Not every Hollywood story involves high-speed car chases or scripted rom coms. Some are documentaries that go straight to the source of real-world drama. Such is the case with “The Half-Life of Genius Physicist Raemer Schreiber,” a documentary that finds its most significant backdrop to be the region’s Hanford Site. The film dives into the life of Raemer Schreiber, an Oregon farmer-turned-physicist who was handpicked by J. Robert Oppenheimer to help assemble the world’s first atomic weapons. It’s a compelling look at how a boy from a rural upbringing ended up at the forefront of the atomic age.
The film uses the iconic B Reactor and the surrounding landscape to trace Schreiber’s career through World War II and the Cold War era. By utilizing these historic landmarks, the documentary provides a cinematic close-up of our regional history while also providing a rare opportunity to see the Tri-Cities’ profound and complicated role on the world stage during these pivotal years.
So, grab the popcorn, dim the lights, and settle in for a Tri-Cities movie marathon that turns your living room into a local premiere. And as you watch, don’t forget to keep your eyes peeled for epic Easter eggs that only those who call the Columbia Valley home could catch. Now that’s a wrap!
