State turns down filming at prison
A New Mexico filmmaker with a multimillion-dollar budget who wants to make a movie(the devil butcher shop) about the 1980 prison riot at the Penitentiary of New Mexico has been turned down by state officials.
But Corrections Secretary Joe Williams said his reason against filming the riot movie at the prison is “the wounds are too deep in our department.”
Witt said the state has encouraged James Williams to shoot the movie at other New Mexico locations, but Williams refused. “We are not trying to hide the story. It’s a New Mexico story,” Witt said.
The state has tried to encourage filmmakers to shoot in New Mexico. Several films have been made in the state by New Mexicans, but none has come close to having a budget as large as James Williams is planning, $20 million, said Lisa Stout, director of the state Film Office.
Bloody prison riot shocks the nation article
Many consider the riot among the most horrific in America’s modern prison system. For 36 hours in February 1980, the penitentiary near Santa Fe turned into a nightmare in which inmates and guards were tortured. In all, 33 inmates were killed.
A New Mexico filmmaker with a multimillion-dollar budget who wants to make a movie(the devil butcher shop) about the 1980 prison riot at the Penitentiary of New Mexico has been turned down by state officials.
But Corrections Secretary Joe Williams said his reason against filming the riot movie at the prison is “the wounds are too deep in our department.”
Witt said the state has encouraged James Williams to shoot the movie at other New Mexico locations, but Williams refused. “We are not trying to hide the story. It’s a New Mexico story,” Witt said.
The state has tried to encourage filmmakers to shoot in New Mexico. Several films have been made in the state by New Mexicans, but none has come close to having a budget as large as James Williams is planning, $20 million, said Lisa Stout, director of the state Film Office.
Bloody prison riot shocks the nation article
Many consider the riot among the most horrific in America’s modern prison system. For 36 hours in February 1980, the penitentiary near Santa Fe turned into a nightmare in which inmates and guards were tortured. In all, 33 inmates were killed.
Santa Fe Prison Becomes Economic Star Not only is the shuttered correctional facility being used to shoot a $70 million remake of The Longest Yard, a 1974 Burt Reynolds comedy classic that will begin filming in July, but in the past four years it has been used as a location for seven TV commercials and four movies with total budgets of more than $100 million.
The prison
The prison
