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A small family-owned theatre north of Winnipeg played host to a trio of Hollywood stars over the weekend.
Mad Men star Jon Hamm, Johnny Pemberton (Amazon Prime’s Fallout) and Paul Walter Hauser (Netflix’s Cobra Kai) were among the attendees of Sunday’s screening of The Running Man at The Flicks Cinema in Stonewall on Sunday evening.
Griffin Levenec, one of the co-owners of the theatre in the town of roughly 5,000, was scooping popcorn and filling the ice machine when he looked up and spotted one of the celebrities.
“We were standing back here and doing our normal Sunday night stuff. We look around the corner and we’re, like, ‘That guy kinda looks like Jon Hamm. That’s interesting,” Levenec told CBC on Tuesday.
Hamm, an Emmy and Golden Globe Award winner, was with Pemberton.
They were accompanied by Hauser, a pro wrestler and actor who won an Emmy for his work in the true crime miniseries Black Bird. All three actors are in the province filming different projects, with Hamm shooting the TV series American Hostage, which he is also co-producing.
“I’m sitting back here fangirling for the two hours that the movie’s going on,” Levenec said.
He says his stepmom is a huge fan of Hamm and Mad Men, the acclaimed series in which Hamm played advertising executive Don Draper from 2007-15.
The Levenec family owns The Flicks Cinema in Stonewall, Man. (Submitted by Griffin Levenec)
Levenec called both of his parents after the actors left the theatre — but not before they snapped several photos with movie-goers, as well as Levenec — to tell them about the unexpected encounter.
His dad considered coming out to the theatre that night, but instead opted to stay home and watch Landman — which, coincidentally, stars Hamm.
“He’s like, ‘Are you kidding me? I stayed home so I could see him on my little screen when I could have seen him in person?'” Levenec said of his dad’s response.
His mom was glad that she wasn’t at the theatre, saying she thinks she likely would have passed out if she saw Hamm, said Levenec.
An Instagram post from Pemberton’s account shows Pemberton, Hamm and Hauser at The Flicks Cinema on Sunday. (johnny_pemberton/Instagram)
All three actors are in the province filming different projects, with Hamm shooting the TV series American Hostage, which is he also co-producing.
Levenec said Hamm wanted to support Running Man director Edgar Wright, with whom Hamm worked on the 2017 film Baby Driver.
Hamm said he found through an online search that the Stonewall theatre was showing Wright’s latest film, and so the three actors decided to make the short drive from Winnipeg, according to Levenec.
“They actually personally thanked us for doing this, because it keeps the industry alive, with streaming and pirating being as big as it’s been lately,” Levenec said.
‘Special experience’ to shoot in Manitoba
Lynne Skromeda, the chief executive officer and film commissioner with Manitoba Film and Music, says there’s a reason celebrities feel comfortable in this province.
“I think it’s a special experience to come shoot in Manitoba, because they’re not being followed by the paparazzi or chased down by fans all the time,” Skromeda said Wednesday.
“They get to live kind of a normal life.”
Lynne Skromeda, chief executive officer and film commissioner of Manitoba Film and Music, thinks there could be more Hollywood sightings in the province as the film industry continues to grow. (Rudi Pawlychyn/CBC)
Manitoba’s film industry continues to grow, and Skromeda predicts celebrity run-ins could become more common in the future.
“I think that’s starting to happen more and more now. Some people just like to stay in their hotel rooms or their trailers … but there are people who like to explore the community and want to know the people that live here and that work here,” she said.
Hamm was also spotted at Canada Life Centre last month when the Winnipeg Jets hosted the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Levenec said there was a small uptick in movie-goers on Monday. He hopes the whirlwind of publicity from the celebrity visitors will help attract more movie fans to the intimate Stonewall theatre, which was recently renovated and reopened this fall with what he calls an “old-school theatre vibe.”
“I’ve always loved it,” Levenec said. “And to keep people coming to it, that’s something that I want, because we all grew up with that.”
The co-owner of The Flicks Cinema in Stonewall, Man., couldn’t believe his eyes when Mad Men star Jon Hamm came in to enjoy a film at the one-room theatre. Hamm, who is shooting a TV series in Winnipeg, was accompanied by fellow Hollywood actors Johnny Pemberton (Fallout) and Paul Walter Hauser (Cobra Kai).
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