Indie thriller 'The Post,' filmed throughout New Mexico, opens Oct. 20

Former Farmington resident Justin Hunt knows that a lot of the folks from his old hometown who go to see his new independent thriller “The Post” when it opens in theaters next weekend will be doing so to catch a glimpse of one of the Farmington locations he used or a couple of the local high school football players who are featured in the film.

But he hopes those viewers wind up enjoying the movie itself, which he said he believes is the finest film of his career.

“With each project I’ve done, I want every film to be better than the last one,” he said. “And this one is a different level.”

“The Post” is the sixth film for Hunt, who now lives in Albuquerque, where he runs White Whale Pictures Inc. He said “The Post” represents a significant departure for him — and not just because it’s only the second narrative film he’s made, alongside four documentaries.

“This has a high-level cast, crew, equipment and visual effects,” he said. “So, in that sense, it’s definitely a departure.”

When Hunt made his first film, “Far Too Far” in 2014, he completed the project with a budget of a mere $10,000. He declined to say how much “The Post” cost to make, but he said it has a significantly higher budget than any of his other films, and that allowed him to hire a veteran, relatively well-known cast.

While “The Post” may not feature any household names, its actors have a long list of credits in high-profile films and television shows. The cast includes William Sterchi (“Hell or High Water” and “Breaking Bad”), Lincoln Castellanos (“Grey’s Anatomy,” “Cry Macho” and “Fear the Walking Dead”), Alex Knight (“Narcos” and Waco”), Sarah Minnich (“Godless” and “Dark Winds”) Liz Johnston (“The Exorcist” and “Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities”), Lantz Hunt (“Stranger Things”) and Kimberly Bigsby (“Succession,” “Waco” and “The West Wing”).

It was perhaps that kind of star power that allowed Hunt to talk the owners of Allen Theatres Inc. — a family-owned cinema business that operates theaters throughout New Mexico, as well as others in Colorado and New Mexico — into booking the film at their theaters in Farmington, Gallup and Durango, Colorado. “The Post” will open at the Animas 10 cineplex at the Animas Valley Mall in Farmington on Friday, Oct. 20 and in theaters in those other two cities on the same date.

“It took a little bit of convincing,” Hunt said of his conversations with Allen Theatres management, adding that it is always difficult for filmmakers at his level to gain access to theater chains.

“That’s the challenge of getting an independent film in theaters,” he said. “It’s so tough when you’re not Universal or Paramount or Marvel to get through the filter of the studio system. Theaters often want to wait to see what other theaters do. But if this can start the snowball rolling, then three theaters can turn into 10, 10 can turn into 30 and 30 can become 100. The turnout in the Four Corners area is so vital for so many reasons.”

Another element that Hunt has in his favor is the fact that, although most of the film was shot in Albuquerque in February and March, some of its scenes were shot in Farmington — at the San Juan Regional Medical Center, Berg Park and the San Juan County Detention Center, for instance.

There is also considerable footage shot at Fred Cook Memorial Stadium in Aztec featuring the football teams at Aztec High School and Bloomfield High School. Hunt said the stadium gets a CGI makeover in the film, becoming much larger than it is in real life, as the home of the Rayford (Texas) High School Tigers, the setting for the film.

A real-life stadium crowd of 3,000 people became 30,000 people in the film, he said, adding that the Aztec players wore alternate jerseys to match the film’s storyline for two games while Hunt’s crew shot footage for the film.

During his days in San Juan County, Hunt served as an assistant football coach at Aztec High School, and he said he was grateful for the way folks around his old program rallied to support his project.

“It was humbling how quickly people stepped up and how willing they were to do it,” he said. “It says a lot about the community.”

Those game sequences were so important, Hunt said, that he estimated they added at least $200,000 in production value to the film. There is no way he could have afforded the cost of uniforms, stadium rental, utilities and extras that shooting a couple of staged games would have run him, he said.

“The football stuff is such an essential part of the film,” Hunt said. “And we’re right in the middle of high school football season.”

Ultimately, though, “The Post” is a story about obsession and revenge. Hunt said it also delves into such themes as family and social media.

“And it’s got a significant plot twist,” he said.

Hunt recently returned from the Silicon Beach Film Festival in Hollywood, where “The Post” won the “Best Thriller” competition.

That was nice validation for his work, Hunt said, but the most meaningful feedback he’s gotten has come in the form of several back-door compliments he has received from friends, who apparently noticed the all-around improvement in acting, production values and visual effects in “The Post” over his previous work.

“A lot of them have said, ‘You made a real movie,’” Hunt said, chuckling.

Mike Easterling can be reached at 505-564-4610 or measterling@daily-times.com. Support local journalism with a digital subscription: http://bit.ly/2I6TU0e.

This article originally appeared on Farmington Daily Times: Indie film 'The Post' features San Juan County locations, residents