Manitowoc was acting as Hollywood for a short time last week.
A group of actors and filmmakers were inside the former McKinley Academy building to shoot scenes for Through Eyes of Grace, a film based on the book of the same name written by Sheboygan resident Dave Payton.
The film will tell the story of Pastor Seth Adams, played by Payton, who struggles with his faith after his teenage daughter disappears.
Payton is originally from New York City and wrote the story to explore a question that many people ask themselves, why do bad things happen to good people?
“I wanted to find an answer,” Payton told Seehafer News. “In my own life, I began to have more questions than answers in regard to faith. This is somewhat of a personal tale to me. Not that any of this happened, but just a matter of there’s too many whys basically.”
The crew was at McKinley to shoot scenes that take place inside the police station.
Payton explained that shooting there was a no-brainer for him.
“A friend of mine owns this gorgeous building. It used to be an old school, but it’s no longer a school, so it’s just an empty building,” he explained. “This was a great spot for a wide variety of places. We are filming the police station here; we filmed a few other scenes that I will not say what they are. It’s three floors of a fun house basically.”
The crew was also at a bed and breakfast located on State Street in Manitowoc and also shot some scenes in Sheboygan, Belgium, and at several beaches in the area.
Another one of the stars of the movie, Kurt Krauss who plays Sheriff Ellis Kirkbride, is actually from Manitowoc.
We will hear more from him tomorrow in part two of our series.