Production is in high gear at various locations throughout the city on "Change of Pace," a feature film and coming-of-age story that's set right here in little old Penticton.
It's that last bit that really is a change of pace.
Though Canadian towns are no stranger to movie and TV show crews, it's not often they actually get to play themselves.
Today, the masked crew, in full COVID-19 mode, was spotted in a residential Penticton neighbourhood.
Between now and mid-month, when filming is expected to wrap, they'll continue their work at such quintessential Penticton locations as the SS Sicamous and the South Okanagan Events Centre.
The flick is based on a 60-minute movie shot in 1980 by two high school pals named Graham Fraser and Mike Drinkwater.
The former has since become rather iconic in the sports world, both at an international and local level, running Ironman Canada for a number of years, being voted with wife Susan to the Ironman Hall of Fame, and more recently as the chairman of the BCJHL Board of Governors and majority owner of the Penticton Vees.
In 2018, Graham and Susan Fraser moved to Penticton.
But it's Fraser's son Luke, a graduate of the University of Colorado Boulder’s film school, who set the initial wheels in motion.
He consulted with his dad and Drinkwater to re-envision, modernize, and expand the original film’s narrative, and the project moved forward from there.
The film follows a character named Mike Freshwater, an awkward high school student having trouble fitting in during his final year at Penticton Secondary School.
His father Hank spends more time defrauding the government than paying attention to his son.
Mike’s lack of direction takes a turn when he meets Wallace, a reserved new kid from Toronto.
As graduation nears, Wallace helps Mike train for a cross-country race, while Mike guides Wallace through an unfamiliar, small-town environment.
Change of Pace is one of the first Canadian productions to begin work after a nationwide COVID shutdown, and today the crew looked the part.
That the movie got a boost recently with the addition of Canadian-born actor Eric McCormack, best known for his role of Will Truman in the hit NBC TV show Will & Grace, would only seem to add to its allure.
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