`Voluntary Action’ attracts crowd to first-run opening

Above from L-R, David McGowan, Debbi Hopper, Nathan Russell and Levi Holsapple attended opening night of “Voluntary Action”-Photo by Dave Baxter

With six months of nonstop filming and three months of late night editing, “Voluntary Action,” has “final cut” in its vocabulary. “Final cut” being two words that the crew at TLM/Resolutions Multimedia thought they would never hear.
Nathan Russell and Dave McGowan owners of TLM/Resolutions filmed and directed the movie.
The film, opened at Capitol Cinemas on Oct. 2, “a historical event for the theater,” said Mike Cherry, a partner of the majority owner. “Never before, to my knowledge, has a locally produced and locally directed movie ever been shown as a first-run film at a commercial theater in this area. ... It just doesn’t happen in small areas like this.”
The movie is produced by Dave Baxter, coordinator of the Champions Against Drugs Coalition. It features students and adults from Lyon, Caldwell, Crittenden, Hopkins and Marshall counties. It will run through Thursday with showings at 6:30 and 8:30 p.m.
Baxter has encouraged not only students but also parents to see the film. “The movie has so many different pieces to it,” he said. “You’ll probably have to watch it more than once because it’s very easy to get caught up in the story.”
Cherry said early Saturday he had no idea what to expect. “I would say it has met expectations,” Cherry said. “A lot of people who have come to see it have been family members and friends of the people who are in the movie. What remains to be seen is what word-of-mouth is going to do — if there are going to be people coming who aren’t in any way related to the production just to actually see the movie.
As of presstime, several large church and school groups, as well as numerous members of the general public, had seen the movie. It has been held over for an additional week. See page D4 for full information and show times.
“I think we will find that out later on in the week,” Cherry said. “... The people who come to see a movie the first couple of days are basing it just on their expectations, reviews or they have some hidden reason to come — they like the stars or the people in it. It’s your word-of- mouth that gets your bounce on audience.”
Cherry said it’s obvious the film deals with an important topic to the youth of society. “It’s message of simply staying away from drugs — in this case, alcohol — even just a small run-in with it can be devastating,” he said. “The film showed us that.”
Last week, Baxter said he was hearing “a lot of buzz” about the film. “People are talking about it,” he said. “And that’s across a number of counties.”
After Sunday night’s turnout of about 180, Debbie Hopper — Mrs. Williams in the film — said she was “amazed at the outcome and turnout from the community.”
Hopper said she is thankful something like “Voluntary Action” is in this area. “I’m just so honored that we are seeing support for it, and I think it’s turning out better than we expected.”
Hopper, who knows the heartbreak of losing her son, Kris, in an accident that involved a drunk driver, said she’s thankful the movie came to Princeton. “This message is needed by all the young people, not only young but young and old,” she said. “It’s a message that is timeless and ageless, and it needs to be told. I feel like Princeton is fortunate to have a group of young people who are willing to give their time.
“They have worked really hard on this and put in countless hours in the making of the movie,” she said. “I’m hoping that (by) word-of-mouth and the direction of God this movie will go every place it’s supposed to and that every person who needs to hear this, it will touch their heart and help them to make the right choices and the right decisions and take the right direction in their life.
“If we can save one, it will all have been worth it,” Hopper said. “I feel strongly that the whole thing has been devine intervention from day one, and that it will continue to be fulfilling the plan it was meant to have.”