How East Tennessee transformed upcoming Civil War film 'Into the Wilderness'

knoxnews.com-East Tennessee locations and the region's people have aided and changed the upcoming Civil War film "Into the Wilderness."

The area provided most of the film's setting, and local actors and actresses, who showcased their talents at the Knoxville open-call auditions for the film, caused filmmakers to change up its script, according to Michael Candela, a producer and actor in the movie.

"Into the Wilderness" was announced in June by the Visit Knoxville Film Office and is set to release in 2019. Into the Wilderness LLC is making the film, and Richard De Witt is directing it. It stars Shuler Hensley, Cylk Cozart, Nikki Cozart, Christopher-Lawson Palmer and others.

It will portray the Civil War's Battle of the Wilderness, and tells the story of a Confederate soldier (Hensley) and Jeremiah (Palmer), a young slave boy, and the lessons they learn from each other during the war.

In addition to its themes of war, the film will have humor and twists and turns, according to associate producer Vicky Edgemon, who's from Knoxville.

"But at this time, it's a good time for this movie because it showing how we can work at having peace, work at coming together of all races, as a community helping one another find our way," Edgemon said.

Where did it film in East Tennessee?

The "Into the Wilderness" cast and crew trekked across East Tennessee while shooting the film throughout October and early November, according to Edgemon.

They filmed at James White Fort, Fall Creek Falls State Park, Elkmont, River View Family Farm, David Hall Cabin in Clinton, Island View Schoolhouse in Seymour, the Coke Ovens in Dunlap, (the Hardin Farm in Loudon County) and a few locations in South Carolina.

Candela said the property owners were helpful in letting them use their locations and accessing them when they needed to. 

The sometimes unpredictable East Tennessee weather did set their filming schedule back a little bit, however.

"Our biggest battle so far has been something nobody can predict, and that is the weather," Candela said. "There is always setbacks, and at first, my two partners Rick (Richard De Witt) and Ev (Stanton, a producer) were kind of freaked out by the fact that ... it would be beautifully sunny one day and raining the next."

Why film in Tennessee?

Candela said they looked at Georgia, the Carolinas and Tennessee as possible locations to film "Into the Wilderness."

Tennessee had the most to offer to the filmmakers, according to Candela.

"Georgia was so busy that they didn't even have the time to return phone calls at first and when they did, they told us up front that we would probably get a fourth-rate crew 'cause that's how busy Georgia is constantly," Candela said.

"When we talked to South Carolina and North Carolina, they were very, very friendly, but ... their benchmark for any incentive is $2 million. This was not a $2 million film, but here we were offered an incentive, a very good incentive as well as a film commissioner, Curt Willis, who worked very hard with us constantly to get everything we needed."

Before they made a decision, Candela said, they visited the states, too, and found talented people and great locations in Tennessee.

How Knoxville changed the script

After the film was announced in June, open auditions for the film were held in Knoxville, and the performers who came out caused filmmakers to adjust the movie's script.

At first, the film mainly centered around Hensley and Palmer's characters and their journey during the war.

After several actresses came to the auditions, Candela said, he and the filmmakers wanted to devote a larger part of the film to the women in the Civil War and how the conflict affected their time at home.

"So we decided to use all these wonderful actresses and create roles for them and what was originally a cast of probably 18 has now ballooned to well over 30," Candela said.

Knoxville screenings in the future

Candela said before sending the film off to festivals next year, they plan to work with the film commission to have invitation-only screenings in Knoxville.

These screenings will be for the cast, crew, those who lent their property and possessions for the film and a large group of Civil War reenactors who helped create the Battle of the Wilderness in the movie.

"We've had well over 100 people volunteer for free to recreate this battle, so we want to do a special showing just for them, so it's not that we want to open it here first, but we really want to show it here as a thank you to all the people who really gave up their time, and their things, their property," Candela said.

"This is a low-budget film. We didn't always have the right costumes that we needed, especially some of the Civil War costumes are quite intricate, and the pieces cost thousands of dollars. Just to get a gun is a thousand dollars. We've had people volunteer clothing, guns, whatever we needed, the people of Knoxville and really the whole the state have stepped forward."