Big hearts make up for rain

Scene 37 of “Believe in Me” is shown on Production Sound Mixer Bayard Carey’s monitor during filming earlier this month at Portales Junior High School. (CNJ file photo)

The Clovis News Journal interviewed “Believe in Me” producer Cotty Chubb for insight into the movie.

Q:Why did you want to produce “Believe in Me?”

A:I thought it would be a positive experience with a friend directing his first film (Robert Collector) and because I thought the movie that would emerge could be great.

Q:What type of reaction have you gotten from those who have seen the movie?

A:A lot of people find it moving, funny and engagingly honest.

Q:How do you feel about the final product?

A:I am really proud that I saw a fine and popular movie when I first read the script (written by Robert Collector, who also directed the movie) and that I could help Bob make his movie.

Q:Why did you choose to film in Clovis?

A:We were looking for a place that we could shoot for Oklahoma in 1964, and we found the level of support we got from the people and businesses in Clovis was overwhelming, together with the state’s support and the great crews in New Mexico.

Q:What’s your best memory of filming in Clovis?

A:Listening to the sad rumble of freight trains through the foggy nights, visiting the studio where Buddy Holly recorded (It should be a national monument: Please protect it.) and too many instances to name of working with the generous people of eastern New Mexico.

Q:Some have said you were looking for a place to film with “big heart and big skies?” Did you feel you found that in Clovis and does it come across in the movie?

A:Absolutely, though your readers may remember that those big skies were pretty rainy that year. But the big hearts more than made up for it.

Q:Where else was the movie filmed besides Clovis? Will those places also have a big “Believe in Me” premiere?

A:Of our six-week shoot, four (weeks) were in Clovis/Portales, with a week in Moriarty and a week in Albuquerque. And we prepped the movie for more than a month in Clovis, so it was really our home. We are also premiering the movie (today) in Knoxville (Tenn.) in conjunction with the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame and the support of the WNBA.

Q:Is there a message behind “Believe In Me”?

A:As a dad of teenage daughters who sometimes doesn’t know how to talk to them, I think it’s important to see what happens when you can trust them to be themselves and believe in themselves, and that means I have to believe in myself and wife as good parents —not always easy.

Q:How long does it usually take to get a movie to theaters?

A:(Steven) Spielberg got “War of the Worlds” in the theaters seven months after he started shooting and my first movie, “Cherry 2000,” which I made in the mid-1980s, still has never been shown. So it varies.

Q:Where will you be for the Clovis premiere?

A:Doesn’t look like I can get to (Clovis for the premiere). My scout on another film has me in Baltimore now, and heading to Detroit.

Q:What’s your next project?

A:I am preparing a political suspense movie for Skefilms, which is why I am scouting and may be unable to get to Clovis (for the premiere).

Compiled by CNJ staff writer Marlena Hartz. Edited for style and clarity.