
In 20, Howell and a team of producers, which included his brother Cort Howell and Schell, raised more than $200,000 in crowdfunding toward the film's overall budget. The Mayberry community soon jumped on board. "Mayberry Man" offered the retro and wholesome subject he sought.

Howell, who lives in Santa Clarita, California, has spent his career in animation as a storyboard artist and director but always wanted to direct live action film. But by the end, I became family," Howell said. "That's the vibe I got, that's the feeling I got, so that's really what inspired the story." But I didn't feel important, I didn't feel connected in the beginning. "I kind of felt like a fish out of water, and I guess just being a legacy made me important. But to Howell, all of that just felt like regular life, separate from the star-studded "Andy Griffith Show." He started watching it in about 1966 when he was 8 to see his friends and to satiate his inner entertainment junkie who devoured "TV Guide" the way others did "Reader's Digest. Howell had grown up friends with Ron Howard, who played Opie Taylor, and his brother Clint Howard, who made appearances as the tiny cowboy Leon. "I thought it was a crazy idea, but he convinced me," Howell said. "Dud" Wash on two episodes of the former. Unlike Stone, Howell hasn't starred in Hollywood blockbusters with titles like "Shingletown" and "Death Figure 8." But the writer shares something in common with his main character: He, too, felt out of place when he attended his first round of Mayberry festivals in 2018.Īt the urging of Howell's friend Gregory Schell, whose father Ronnie Schell appeared in "Andy Griffith" and starred as Duke Slater in "Gomer Pyle: USMC," Howell signed autographs for his father, the character actor who played PFC Dudley A. It also will be available on DVD and to rent or buy from Amazon Video. Updates about where to watch are continually posted at.
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Just more than a year after filming began, the movie is rolling out in Indiana theaters and will be at the Heartland International Film Festival next month.
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'Mayberry Man': How to see the 'Andy Griffith'-inspired movie that was filmed in Indiana The result is " Mayberry Man," much of which was filmed in Central Indiana and Danville, thanks to its annual Mayberry in the Midwest festival. The feature-length movie centers on Chris Stone, who's an insufferable movie star and the fictional son of a guest actor on "The Andy Griffith Show." After he's caught speeding, Stone, who is played by Brett Varvel, is sentenced to represent his father at the fictional Mayberry Fest in Mayberry, N.C., an experience that initially mortifies him.

It also would need to fit into the world of Mayberry festivals, where tribute artists play deputy Barney Fife, barber Floyd Lawson and their compatriots - an atmosphere that can bowl over the uninitiated. Howell, who is connected to the show's legacy through his actor father, Hoke Howell, had to walk a fine line. The movie would be for an audience that reveres the comedic art of the original actors enough to know their work is impossible to replicate. He began writing a feature film that would capture the modern-day spirit of " The Andy Griffith Show" fandom without mirroring the iconic 1960s series. Not long after Stark Howell attended his first Mayberry tribute festival, he assigned himself a tall order. Watch Video: 7 classic movies, including A Christmas Story, that are set in Indiana
