Home Movie Series takes center stage at The Granada Theatre
Photo Credit: Barron Spafford
During its centennial year celebration, The Granada honored its movie history past with its Santa Barbara Home Movies Series featuring blockbusters from artists who live in the Santa Barbara region.
“Santa Barbara Home Movies honors The Granada’s heritage as a grand movie palace by reintroducing feature films at The Granada in a very special way – with films made by artists who call Santa Barbara home,” said Scott Seltzer, Granada Centennial producer. “It’s a centennial year celebration of both The Granada and the enormously talented people who live here.”
The special series, which started in July and will end in December, focused on the groundbreaking movies of Santa Barbara residents and directors Andrew Davis and Robert Zemeckis.
“I’m very grateful The Granada did this series, and I was very flattered to be asked to participate,” said Davis, a Santa Barbara resident since the mid-1980s. “The Granada has figured out how to project the movies on a huge screen without compromising quality, which is unique for an older theater. The quality of the projection and sound is terrific.”
Three Show Feature
Davis is a critically acclaimed filmmaker known for classic films like The Fugitive, Collateral Damage, Under Siege, A Perfect Murder, and more.
The Santa Barbara Home Movies series kicked off in July with a fully restored 4K screening of his 1995 film Steal Big, Steal Little. The comedy/drama was set in Santa Barbara and starred Andy Garcia and Alan Arkin, working alongside many local actors and crew.
“It’s a film that wasn’t seen a lot at the time, but it holds up and is very relevant today,” said Davis.
Before the screening Davis and Garcia took to the stage to share the behind-the-scenes story of the movie with Granada guests.
In the Fall, The Granada showcased Davis’ film Holes, a family-friendly movie based on Louis Sachar’s novel about a juvenile detention camp. The movie starred Sigourney Weaver, John Voight, Shia LaBeouf, and Khleo Thomas. Davis, Sachar, and Thomas talked to the audience before the showing.
Davis closes his movie run at The Granada with the iconic The Fugitive on Nov. 23 . Starring Harrison Ford, the 1993 movie garnered seven Academy Award nominations. Davis will be sharing stories with the audience before the screening and signing copies of his newly released book, Disturbing the Bones, afterward. Spoiler alert, Davis is hoping to eventually turn the book into another blockbuster thriller in the future.
Zemeckis Family Films
Photo Credit: Universal Studios
To celebrate summer, The Santa Barbara Home Movie Series presented a month of classic Zemeckis films for families throughout August. Zemeckis, a director, producer and writer, has called Santa Barbara home since Michael Douglas, who he worked with on Romancing the Stone, turned him on to the town.
The Zemeckis Family Films kicked off with his first big hit, Romancing the Stone. Zemeckis and UCSB film historian Ross Melnick were on hand for a pre-screening conversation with the Granada audience.
The theater also presented Back to the Future, a film Zemeckis said was rejected more than 40 times before becoming one of the most successful and beloved films of the 1980s. Who Framed Roger Rabbit, the most expensive animated film made when it was released in 1988, delighted the audience. The family movies concluded with Forrest Gump, which won the Best Picture Oscar in 1994 and earned Zemeckis a Golden Statue for Best Director.
On December 3, The Granada gets in the holiday spirit, presenting Zemeckis’ The Polar Express.
Carrying on the Tradition
Photo Credit: Barron Spafford
The Santa Barbara Home Movie Series paid homage to the many decades The Granada spent as the premiere movie house in the region. Back in the day, The Granada Theatre hosted exclusive sneak previews and world premieres of cinematic classics such as Gone With the Wind, Guys and Dolls, The Long, Long Trailer, 3 Ring Circus and many more.
“I’m very grateful The Granada did this and I hope to support more of it in the future,” said Davis. “I’d love to show every film I’ve ever made there.”
According to Seltzer, he may get that chance.
“We hope that so much of the special programming that we’ve been presenting during the centennial year will continue to be offered by The Granada in the future,” said Seltzer.