GOOGLE EARTH PUTS TINY TEXAS TOWN ON
HOLLYWOOD’S MAP
Location Shooting Wraps on Upcoming Feature Film ABEL’S FIELD;
Producers Found Thrall, Texas, Location From a Bird’s-Eye View
SOURCE: Lovell/Fairchild
THRALL, Texas – Nov. 17, 2011 – Location shooting has wrapped in Thrall, Texas, on ABEL’S FIELD, an entertaining, inspiring story of finding faith and hope in unlikely places. And speaking of unlikely places . . . the team behind ABEL’S FIELD found their perfect small-town Texas location after spotting Thrall’s high school football stadium on Google Earth.
“ABEL’S FIELD takes place in the fictional town of Sinai, Texas, where football is king,” said Producer Tore Knos. “We had narrowed our search to Central Texas to be near the filmmaking community in Austin. And in July, our director, Gordie Haakstad, scoured that area online. After spotting it on Google Earth, it just took one visit to Thrall, and we knew we had found our ‘Sinai.’”
ABEL’S FIELD stars Kevin Sorbo (SOUL SURFER, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys) as Abel, a man with a dark past but a guiding faith. As groundskeeper at the local high school, Abel is forced to work with student Seth McArdle (Samuel Davis), a young man responsible for raising his little twin sisters and someone continually running afoul of school authorities. How these two move from disdain and dislike to respect and friendship, and how their friendship is tested, makes ABEL’S FIELD touching, enthralling and inspiring.
The Thrall community, about an hour northeast of Austin, welcomed the ABEL’S FIELD team, allowing use of the high school for location shots, a church youth building for production offices and, of course, the people of Thrall as extras. Once a booming oil town of 5,000, Thrall’s current population is less than 800. But it wasn’t just the economic benefit a film shoot brings that excited people there. The story of the difference a mentor can make touched them.
“Nobody rebounds from crises on their own; we all need mentors,” said Thrall ISD Superintendent Ernie Laurence. “I’m thankful for all the people that have mentored me over the years, and we were excited to have a part in sharing that message and experience with the world.”
With location shooting wrapped, ABEL’S FIELD moves into post-production with an eye toward a late 2012 release.
To learn more:
Visit us online at: AbelsField.com
Follow on Facebook: Facebook.com/AbelsField
Discuss us on Twitter: Twitter.com/AbelsField
And visit Lovell-Fairchild.com/pressroom for:
- Bios of Cast and Crew
- ABEL’S FIELD Backgrounder
- ABEL’S FIELD Fact Sheet
- ABEL’S FIELD Synopsis