GREEN BAY, Wis. — A film focused on farming and the 1993 Green Bay Packers is now in theaters across the country.
“Green and Gold” was shot in northern Wisconsin in 2021. The original name was, “God Loves The Green Bay Packers.” The film stars Craig T. Nelson, Brandon Sklenar, and the late M. Emmet Walsh.
“It’s a story of an old dairy farmer in Wisconsin and his granddaughter. They find out their farm is going under and they’re trying to save the farm,” Director Anders Lindwall explained on Wisconsin’s Midday News.
So where do the Packers come in?
“It ends up following the 1993 Packers season and the farmer is kind of brokering the deal with the bank to extend the life of his loan if the Packers win the Super Bowl,” Lindwall said.
The team behind “Green and Gold” has a plea as it hits the big screen this weekend.
“That first weekend is so crucial to our success or failure. We’re competing against blockbuster $100 million movies, and this is a movie we made on our family and friends’ budget,” the director explained.
Lindwall compares showing up in theaters for the initial screenings to casting a vote.
“What kind of stories do you want to listen to and be a part of? For us, we’re calling on the Midwest to show up to the theaters. Help us keep doing more of these,” he said.
The film is only guaranteed four to seven days in each theater, but that could be extended based on demand.
“If people are there, I promise you, we’ll keep showing it,” Greg Marcus, President & CEO of The Marcus Corporation told Wisconsin’s Midday News.
Lindwall and his brother Davin who co-produced the film are huge Packers fans so making this movie was a dream come true.
Another dream come true: Securing the star they wanted, Nelson, who’s well known for his big role in “Coach” and more recently “Young Sheldon.”
“An absolute miracle is how that happens. We got a great casting director in our first meeting who asked who we wanted to play the old farmer. We said we want Craig T. Nelson and they laughed at us,” Lindwall revealed.
The brothers didn’t give up on Nelson and the next day they got a call from his agent.
“Craig wants to talk with you,” the casting director said. “He read the script last night and was moved by the story.”
Nelson ultimately came on board.
“(This is an independent film). We paid him pennies for what the guy’s worth. We couldn’t have asked for a better person,” Lindwall said.
That wasn’t the only surprise along the way. Two weeks before the team was about to start filming Lindwall got a call he wasn’t expecting.
“I haven’t told many people this… a big studio got a hold of our script and called us and said, hey, we want to buy this from you guys,” Lindwall revealed on Wisconsin’s Midday News.
But there was a requirement that didn’t sit right. That big studio wanted them to shoot the film in Alabama because of the state’s film tax credits.
“I went back to my brother, and I was like, man, it’s a movie about the Green Bay Packers. We gotta turn it down. We have to shoot it up here,” Lindwall said.
And so they did. The crew filmed in various locations in Door County, including The Blue Ox and Florian II Supper Club. They also shot some scenes in Green Bay with Lambeau Field as the backdrop.
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