Thumbs-up! Moviegoers, cast celebrate 'Chocolate Lizards'

It was a night of celebration, to be sure.

"Chocolate Lizards" premiered Wednesday evening in Abilene, a movie beginning with an introduction, interrupted by laughter and applause, and ending with many in the cast on stage, expressing their appreciation for being a part of a downhome, Texas project.

"It's amazing," Cole Thompson, his face wide with a smile, said outside the Paramount Theatre after the audience spilled into the muggy spring night. It was his book, written more than 25 years ago and published in 1999 that provided the story that Abilenian Julie Denny turned into a screenplay. It took a few years - emcee Jay Moore jokingly boiled to down to an "overnight" effort - to turn it into the movie.

But that night arrived, and those attending gushed like an oil well hitting the source.

Whereas many Abilenians a few years ago walked away from the rough cut of what then was called "Brother's Keeper" (the title later was changed) with a dazed and confused look, there were gleaming eyes and smiles a-plenty Wednesday evening. This time, a movie depicting life as we know it in West Texas delivered what the audience expected.

Cheers went up before the first scene, when "A Julie B. Denny Production" was shown on the big screen. As other local names were seen, applause went up. Former Abilene musician and music composer Stephen Barber was part of the effort.

The movie was so authentic that the rig crew munched lunch from Whataburger sacks.

The audience booed those scoundrels up in Abilene, particularly at Abilene State Bank, which was about to shut down driller Merle Luskey for good if he didn't pay up.

Though the movie was not made in Abilene, some shots were filmed here. The audience cheered the west Abilene entrance sign and glimpses of Pine and Cypress streets, the latter briefly showing the Paramount.

They were on the edge of their new seats in the theater as the clock literally ticked toward ruin for Luskey.

Could he find "the big one" 6,500 feet and counting below the dusty surface before 5 p.m.?

Who would've thought, someone mused, that a movie about drilling an oil well could be so exciting.

Many after the movie adjourned to the Center for Contemporary Arts, where chocolate martinis were served, along with chocolate brownies and chocolate chip cookies - you get the theme. You could take a small chocolate boot on a stick home as a souvenir.

Attendee Charlie Hukill, the retired longtime McMurry University theater professor and set designer, marveled at the cinematography and especially the lighting of scenes and actors. Those accentuated the beauty of rural Texas, he said.

CCA is where Bruce Dern held court, accepting smooches from women thrilled to meet the now aging but beloved movie star. He had a small but key role in the movie as the land owner who allows Luskey and his crew to drill. He'd save the day, too, with a well-timed cattle drive that keeps them bank boys away.

Dern now is 86 and needed assistance, though he beamed under his Buffalo Gap (population 463) cap.

Some at CCA looked at the artwork on the wall. Actress Carrie-Anne Moss was one, examining a photo of a longhorn.

She plays Faye, who works at the Buffalo Gap Café and has feelings for Merle. She joins the effort to get the well drilled, fearing that if she doesn't, she'd lose her best customer.

Moss said she knows of Abilene only through what has become a friendship with Denny.

"To come here and feel the support of her friends and community is wonderful and moving," she said amid the post-movie hubbub.

"Chocolate Lizards" is a guy-heavy movie. The woman playing Faye was unfazed by that, enjoying the opportunity to work with Thomas Haden Church, who is Merle, and, of course, Dern.

And the rig boss is a woman.

"I had a great time," she said of working with the boys. "I don't even think about it like that."

Moss has not worked much in Texas, shooting a 2008 movie titled "Fireflies in the Garden" in Austin. Many would say that doesn't count.

"I like Texans," she said. "I had a great time."

This movie was filmed near Austin, in Bartlett. Moore joked that this version of Buffalo Gap shows a far more prosperous town than the one just south of Abilene.

Moss said the finished product, that she has seen before but those in Abilene had not, was "amazing."

"Thomas Haden Church and Rudy (Pankow, who portrays the central character, Erwin, a disenchanted actor who somehow ends up in the middle of Luskey's last-gasp effort) are so good. Their chemistry and soul ....

"This is just such a human story. I think right now, people are so sensitive to that way of storytelling with so much digitizing. We see, 'Oh yeah, this is what movies can be.' They can be about a story and about people. They can make you cry and make you laugh.

"That's why I wanted to be an actor. It's making me feel quite emotional in a way."

Director Mark Bristol, best known for his storyboard work, spoke after the movie and welcomed cast members on stage.

He thanked "this incredible cast" and then handed off his mic.

Moss, at one end, spoke to Dern, at the other.

"Watching you work in the barn was a highlight of my career," she told him.

She then turned to the audience.

"I love Julie," she said, "It was so great to work on a project with a human being behind it. It's been a pleasure to see how much you love her."

Dern, seated in a wheelchair on stage, expressed his appreciation for Denny a bit differently.

"What brought me here was Julie Denny's voice on the telephone that told me this is a woman who gives a s---," he said, to roars of laughter.

He read the script, which doesn't get to his character, Scheermeyer, until later in the story.

"Well, get to me, get to me," Dern thought. He finally did. "I thought all of you guys were on to something."

Only Pankow, who had a scheduling conflict, could not attend the Abilene premiere.

But the young actor, best known to this point for the teen streaming drama "Outer Banks," recorded a message that was shown before the movie. The premiere started late because you know how Texans tend to mosey and talk. It took a while to herd 'em just three blocks from a get-together at The Grace Museum to the Paramount.

"Everything about this has a heart," Pankow said. "I really support you guys coming out to watch it. I'm really bummed that I wasn't able to attend but I hope with all my heart that you enjoy 'Chocolate Lizards.'"

For those who don't know, there is such a thing as chocolate lizards. It's a deep brown color of cowboy boot.

In the book and in the movie, Luskey makes Erwin, whom he calls "Harvard" (there's even a sticker on the actor's Prius attesting to his East Coast roots) an official Texan by presenting him a pair of these boots (the credits list Tecova, the Austin-based bootmaker).

Moore, who was wearing boots, said Bristol, who was not, needed to get him some.

That was about all that a memorable night in Abilene was missing.

This article originally appeared on Abilene Reporter-News: Thumbs-up! Moviegoers, cast celebrate 'Chocolate Lizards'