You may have seen the film crews around the area recently, and that’s because once again Carson City will be starring in another film.

In the past few years, Carson City has been making her mark on the silver screen in Hallmark movies such as Once Upon a Time on Main Street, and Feliz Navidad, which led to Carson City creating their own Hallmark film, A Winter’s Charm in Carson City:

Other movies have included The Motel Life, The Mustang, and before the millennium the most popular movies that used Carson City as a backdrop were Showgirls (1995), An Innocent Man (1989), and Misery (1990), just to name a few. 

According to Supervisor Stacey Giomi, one of the reasons for the increase in film production is a recent change in the permitting process for filmmaking. “That’s what brought them here to Carson City to allow them to have this as their home base,” he said. 

Now, the capital city will once again be the backdrop for a feature film. 

According to Emily Skyle, executive director for Cordillera International Film Festival (CIFF) said the name of the film is Casa Grande, which is a sequel to the Amazon Prime series of the same name. 

Casa Grande explores the intertwining lives of families with in Northern California farmland at the turn of the century, with an “upstairs/downstairs” storytelling focusing on themes of class, immigration, culture, and family. 

“Casa Grande’s narrative examines the compelling, everyday realities and conflicts between California’s overworked and underpaid farmworkers and the wealthier families who own the farms and reap the profits, asking the question: ‘What will mankind endure for a taste of the American Dream?’” wrote Jon Lyus as part of an interview with the cast.

Showrunner Lauren Swickard also noted that many of these stories that focus on farming or ranching are male dominated, but Casa Grande makes sure to focus on women: both in front of and behind the camera. 

“My favorite thing in developing this series is in a very male dominated industry, we really focused on and showcased the matriarchs, whether it was behind the camera or in front of the camera. Our showrunner is female, our director is female, we had so many female voices in it, and you can see that in our characters and within each family,” she said in a cast interview.

Prime’s Casa Grande was a limited series with five episodes spanning around 45 minutes each, but now fans will be happy to have a full feature film to continue digging into the story. 

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The movie is produced by ESX Entertainment in partnership with Warner Brothers, and according to Skyle, is described as: “A prodigal daughter rejoins her family at their farm during a difficult time, as her ailing father faces both a terminal diagnosis and mounting pressure from competitors. Old wounds resurface as they grapple with what lies ahead.” 

The film stars Golden Globe nominee Lou Diamond Phillips, known for his portrayal of Ritchie Valens in 1987’s La Bamba and Golden Globe winner/Academy Award nominee Bruce Davison, who has starred in over 270 movies over his 50+ years of acting. And of course, it also sees the lead cast members from the Prime series returning including John Pyper-Ferguson, Madison Lawlor, Christina Moore, Kate Mansi, Lauren Swickard and others. 

Filming locations in the area have included Genoa, Minden, Carson City, and New Washoe City, and will continue shooting through March and into early April throughout the area. 

So far in Carson City, film locations have included Jack’s Bar / The Bank Saloon, the Ormsby House, and Heidi’s among others. 

There is no current release date, but we will continue to update with information on the movie when it becomes available.