Three of a kind with Jaime Aymerich :Idaho moviemaker’s new film's set in Chicago, but nearly all of it was shot in Boise

Greg Green’s new film “Three of a Kind” boasts two actors who gained fame from iconic roles: Superman’s Lois Lane and Seinfeld’s Soup Nazi.
Margot Kidder and Larry Thomas are in supporting roles in Green’s film, a slick, sexy psychological thriller that the Idaho moviemaker hopes will get noticed at one of the top film festivals and picked up by a distributor.
“I want to be sure it plays in front of a large audience,” the 55-year-old filmmaker said. “We want to make enough money that we can make our next film, and the film after that.”
But what makes the movie truly unusual is that “Three of a Kind” was shot almost entirely in the Boise area — scenes take place at a home in Eagle, in the North End’s Hyde Park, at Chandlers Steakhouse, in Downtown Boise, in the women’s restroom of the El Korah Temple, at Ann Morrison Park, at Boise Airport, at Homedale Airport, and on the Boise State campus.
Numerous short films are made in Idaho each year, but very few full-length features are shot in the Gem State, said Peg Owens, marketing specialist in the Idaho Film Office.
Green’s “Three of a Kind” was one of only two last year, she said. The other, “Jens Polver/DRIVEN,” was a biographical movie about a cage fighter from Idaho.
“I’d love to be able to work only here,” said Boisean Catrine McGregor, who has worked in the film industry for 35 years and produced “Three of a Kind.”
“Unfortunately, there are still quite a few stumbling blocks for people to doing full-length features,” McGregor said.
One reason Idaho has trouble luring filmmakers is because other states have substantial financial incentives. For example, Michigan offers a 42 percent tax rebate for film production there.
In 2008, Idaho passed a bill offering a 20 percent rebate to filmmakers who spend more than $200,000 on production costs in the state — but there’s never been any money to fund it, Owens said.
“Utah has some really good tax incentives. We could have easily shot there,” Green said. “We wanted to make a statement that film production is possible in Idaho.”
Another advantage Utah has over Idaho is that Salt Lake City has trained crews. Bringing professional crews in from out of state makes filming in Idaho more costly.
“We’re trying to develop more of a crew base here. The only way to do that is to produce films here,” Green said.
Green said eight investors ponied up about $1.8 million to bankroll the film. About 120 people worked on it, including crew, actors and extras, and about half were Idahoans.
McGregor, who met her husband in Boise after moving to the area two years ago to be near family, said she called in a lot of favors from friends in the business to keep the film within budget.
“It looks like a $5 million to $10 million film,” she said.
Although the film is set primarily in Chicago, some scenes involved exotic locales such as Buenos Aires and Lake Como, Italy.
“Boise doesn’t enter into the storyline,” said Green, who wrote the screenplay.
Green, an Oshkosh, Wis., native, who has produced regional and national broadcast image campaigns and sales films for three decades, followed his girlfriend to Boise in 2009. He says he’s been making films since he was 9, starting with a Super 8 camera and projector.
“Three of a Kind” grew out of a 10-minute film titled “The Payoff” that Green made while a film student at the University of Iowa in 1975. He started writing the screenplay for the movie in January, and from there the movie came together quickly.
The primary roles for the film were cast from members of the Screen Actors Guild from Los Angeles. The five principals are Jodi Russell (Anna), Tom Adams (Victor), Jared Zirilli (Michael), Mario DiDonato (Giovanni) and Jessica Manuel (Christina).
The story revolves around a wealthy casino owner in Chicago and his obsessive control over his wife. The plot has many twists and turns, the filmmakers say.
The film was shot in September and October.
Green said the Boise area is a versatile place to film, offering a variety of settings and topography. The filmmakers did send a cameraman to Chicago, Buenos Aires and Las Vegas to get images of cityscapes for “outdoor establishing shots,” and stock footage of Lake Como and Calgary, Canada.
“There’s an extensive helicopter sequence we shot just north of Boise, and that doubles as (the mountains outside of Calgary,) Canada,” Green said.
The test screening that the filmmakers are doing in Boise Wednesday is an important part of the process, Green and McGregor said. A screening is also planned for May 14 in Salt Lake City.
“My goal is when the film starts, you are absolutely drawn to the screen from frame one until the end of the movie,” said Green.
“At the end of the day, I have to sell this thing,” he said. “An independent film doesn’t have the benefit of a studio behind it. It has to be artistically satisfying and commercially satisfying.”
McGregor said the test screening could be helpful if it reveals that there is a scene or sequence that people don’t understand. She said some filmmakers look to test audiences to decide if they should change an ending.
“We just want to make sure the film can be as good as it can be,” Green said.
He plans to submit the film to the Toronto Film Festival, Cannes International Film Festival and Sundance Film Festival.

JAIME AYMERICH CLUB DE FANS DE DONATELLA OLIVERI