Eaton Rapids native writes, directs festival's closing movie, 'Hayseed'

For Travis Burgess, who used to roam his grandparents’ farm with a camcorder, this might be the ultimate dream:

Some day, he would make a movie – a real one, with Hollywood and New York stars – in his hometown of Eaton Rapids. Then it would premiere in Lansing.

Now that’s happening.

“Hayseed,” debuts at 7 p.m. April 15 at 2500 S. Washington Ave., as the closing-night film of the Capital City Film Festival; info is at capitalcityfilmfest.com.

“Shooting an independent movie is next to impossible,” said Burgess, who wrote and directed it. But people often do it quite well, especially in this case.

“Hayseed” starts with a clever script about a small-town mystery, then adds pro actors. The cast includes Tom Cruise’s ex-wife in “Minority Report” … Claire Danes’ sister in “Homeland” … Viola Davis’ scheming student in “How To Get Away With Murder” … Deadpool’s and Iron Man’s voice in video games … and the guy Christian Bale raged at in “American Psycho.”

But achieving the “impossible” required lots of hometown help. That came from officials – “We had the sheriff and the police on speed-dial,” Burgess said – and from First Congregational Church.

“I definitely saw Travis’ heartfelt feelings for his hometown,” said Pastor Jenny Rouble.

This was the sort of backdrop a set-designer dreams of – a classic church that was built 180 years ago, then rebuilt (after a fire) 146 year ago. “I really like the stained-glass images,” Burgess said.

He had wanted to shoot in his boyhood church but was rejected. Then his grandmother suggested First Congregational, where he did have one round of summer Bible school. Rouble “responded so positively,” he said, and got approval from the church board.

She’s only been pastor there for two years (after two decades elsewhere), but can relate to his roots. Her own childhood was in Eaton Rapids, a quarter-mile from her grandparents’ farm.

For Burgess, his grandparents’ farm was a major starting point. “I would go there on Sundays and explore the woods with this huge VHS camcorder. I started making movies at the farm.”

He graduated from Eaton Rapids High School in 2005, went to film school and “wasn’t loving it” in California. That’s when a friend was looking for a roommate in Brooklyn; Burgess arrived with $200 and found the place had “not a stick of furniture; it all belonged to the old roommate.”

Nowadays, Burgess and his wife have a house in Brooklyn. But back then, it was a strange new world.

He got a job with an indie filmmaker and helped produce successful films “Death Metal Anglola” and “The Preppie Connection.” He wrote scripts that did well in competitions, but haven’t been produced.

Then the pandemic brought time to focus. “I’m a writer, first and foremost,” Burgess said.

He wrote “Hayseed,” about a murder in a small-town church. A producer urged him to direct it in Eaton Rapids. Once a good chunk of the $500,000 budget had been raised, he could start casting … at a pandemic time when lots of major actors were more available than usual.

Bill Sage (“American Psycho”) and Amy Hargreaves (“Homeland”) had both been in “Preppie Connection.” Now Sage stars as the investigator and Hargreaves plays the richest woman in town.

For her husband, Burgess cast Nolan North, whose main job (voice work) can be done anywhere. “He said, ‘Just get me a hotel room that’s quiet, and I can do that at night.’” North and the others had rooms (quiet ones, presumably) in Lansing.

Kathryn Morris was the star of CBS’ “Cold Case” for seven years, but Burgess knew her only from “Minority Report”; she plays the flirty diner owner. Then there was Jack Falahee (“How to Get Away With Murder”) as a ragged sort, self-named Duck, plus key roles for other young actors.

Burgess was able to find skilled crew people in the East Lansing area – a fact that pleases film-fest co-founder Jason Gabriel. “They didn’t feel like they needed to be in Hollywood tgo work on movies.”

Eaton Rapids provided the backdrops, including a Main Street that looks great – but has too many cars. “It was so loud,” Burgess said. “We had to re-shoot a lot.”

That wasn’t what the Hollywood actors expected – a small-town setting with a traffic overload.

This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Capital City Film Fest's 'Hayseed' by Travis Burgess of Eaton Rapids