To see where “Green and Gold” gets its big heart, you need look only as far as Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
Anders and Davin Lindwall grew up in Iron River, where their parents saw to it that community involvement was a part of daily life. It was something most every night. Volunteering for this and giving someone a ride to that. It was church, potlucks and choir.
“I think Davin and I, we had front-row tickets to just some of the most generous people in the world, it felt like,” Anders said.
The sibling filmmakers know they’re not unique in their experience. That same thread of community benevolence — the visits to nursing homes, the meal deliveries, the local Kiwanis Club — is tightly woven into the culture of many small towns.
“The wholesome nature of that community, people can kind of make fun of that, like, ‘Oh, hokey-dokey wholesome things,’” Anders said. “But for us, it was always just this lovely, beautiful way of existing and being in the world, and so trying to communicate that into cinema was one of our big desires.”
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Their debut independent film, “Green and Gold,” opens in theaters nationwide on Friday. Directed and co-written by Anders, with Davin as producer, it feels like a warm Midwest hug. The kind of movie people say they don’t make anymore.
The family drama is set on a Wisconsin dairy farm in the 1990s and stars Craig T. Nelson as a fourth-generation farmer fighting to save his family’s land from the bank and betting on the Green Bay Packers’ season to help him do it. His granddaughter (played by Madison Lawlor) works alongside him but feels the tug of her own dream as a singer-songwriter.
It’s a story of bonds, among family, neighbors, Packers fans and a way of life. It’s filled with the joys, struggles and toil that come with tending a family farm. It’s both hardscrabble and tenderhearted. It’ll make you laugh (with a Chicago Bears name drop) and well up with pride (and maybe tears) by the time the credits roll.
The cast includes, most famously, Nelson, an Emmy Award winner for TV’s “Coach” who shows up in one scene wearing a Stadium View Sports Bar shirt while playing cards, but also Brandon Skenlar, of the 2024 movie “It Ends With Us” and Tyler Sheridan’s “1923.” Prolific character actor M. Emmet Walsh makes his final screen appearance before his death last year at age 88. Wisconsin comedian Charlie Berens drops his “Manitowoc Minute” accent and plays it straight as a WDOR radio host.
There’s gorgeous cinematography of the rural Door County countryside, where the majority of project was filmed, and of wildlife that includes owls, sandhill cranes, geese, bears and deer. The iconic curvy stretch of Highway 42 at the top of the peninsula is a magnificent ribbon of fall color.
Cameras capture the birth of a calf. Clothes hang out on the line. A fish fry gets a reference. A dinner guest is warned to watch out for deer when driving at night. At least one “cripes” is uttered.
The Lindwalls grew up as diehard Packers fans in the U.P., so capturing the nuances of how the team permeates daily life wasn’t a stretch. A scene where people sprint out of church after Sunday service to catch the Packers game was inspired by their own childhood.
Door County was the perfect setting, but they had another offer
Anders and Davin had looked at locations across Wisconsin for filming, including the Eau Claire area, but they knew they also had one scene they wanted to film by Lambeau Field. Packing up the crew and losing a half-day to travel across the state to Green Bay wasn’t in the project’s razor-thin budget.
Shooting in Door County allowed people to conveniently fly in and out from Green Bay Austin Straubel International Airport. It was a doable drive for anyone coming from Chicago, and they could pull talent from a large film crew in Milwaukee.
Aside from its logistical practicality, Door County brought something else to the film.
“It has this natural beauty,” Anders said. “Being able to shoot farms that are on this big lake, it has this iconic feel to us.”
It felt like a connection to their grandfather’s dairy farm in Menominee County near Stephenson, Michigan. It was no longer in operation by the time they came along but the farm land remained. There were other sentimental pulls to Door County for them, too. Their grandmother used to pick cherries as a kid, and Al Johnson’s Swedish Restaurant & Butik in Sister Bay reflects their family’s Swedish heritage.
Door County’s reputation for being art-friendly and art-focused was also a factor. It helped to open much-needed doors, things like shutting down streets for filming and helping the crew make the necessary connections within the community.
A few weeks before shooting was scheduled to begin in fall 2021, the filmmakers received an offer from a studio that wanted to buy the project — and wanted it to shoot in Alabama for tax incentive purposes. They politely declined what turned out to be the best offer they would get.
“We ended up not getting an offer anywhere near that, but we turned it down,” Anders said “At that point it was called ‘God Loves the Green Bay Packers,’ so it was like, ‘What? Are we going to film this thing somewhere else?’”
“Green and Gold” takes place during the course of an entire Packers season, which meant scenes on the farm had to reflect late summer into winter, all within 18 days of shooting. They had to try to hit the perfect window of opportunity of leaves still on the trees and then blowing off as the chill of winter sets in.
Ideally, a tailgating scene shot near Lambeau Field would’ve happened during a Packers game day, but the filming and NFL schedules didn’t sync. They pulled it off with extras, intentionally secretive about the day it was filmed to avoid attracting local onlookers. They used old NFL Films footage of tailgaters and crowds outside Lambeau to help set the scene.
How Craig T. Nelson transformed the movie and set the tone
It was Davin’s wife who suggested they get Nelson to play Buck. When they told their casting directors that’s who they wanted, they were asked if perhaps they had someone else in mind. Landing an actor of Nelson’s stature — Hayden Fox on “Coach,” Zeek Braverman on “Parenthood” and Dale Ballard on “Young Sheldon” — for their little indie movie was surely pie in the sky.
But they obliged and sent his agent the script. The next day came a call from one of the casting directors: “I cannot believe this, but he wants to talk to you guys.”
Nelson, whose great-grandfather from Norway settled and farmed in Ettrick, Wisconsin, was drawn to the story, because it represented the heartland and a spirit that he grew up on.
“There’s an importance to who we are. There’s an importance to what we say. And there’s an importance to what we believe, and as I’m getting older, I’m watching some of our traditions and some of our values and some of our stewardship kind of fading away and becoming a memory,” Nelson, 80, said at a VIP red carpet event for the film on Jan. 3 at Lambeau Field.
“I wanted to be part of a project that brings courage. It brings faith, and it brings hard work, and it brings love, and it brings compassion, and it brings meaning, because that’s what I want my kids to remember,” he said. “That’s what I want my great-grandkids to remember, is that their great-grandfather stood for something. So I was proud to be asked to do this film.”
When Nelson signed on to “Green and Gold,” it immediately transformed it from “this tiny little indie movie to all of a sudden you have now, in our minds, this legend,” Anders said.
Nelson proved to be the most down-to-earth of legends.
Each day before filming began, the cast and crew would have 60 seconds of silence out in the field to take a breath and prepare for the work ahead. On that first day, with everyone gathered around, Nelson shared his passion for the project, perfectly setting the tone.
“Here’s this guy who flies in from Malibu, who has been doing this his whole life. He’s a total pro,” Anders said. “He’s also a badass. He lived off grid for seven years and raced cars and sold vacuums, so it’s not like he was born into what he did. He worked his tail off to do what he has done, but he so brought this human level down to the crew right off the bat.”
On the second day of filming, Nelson pulled Anders aside and asked where the other camera was. The production had only one, Anders told him, and they could barely afford that. Nelson volunteered to cover the cost so they could rent a second one.
“He just set the tone of nobody is above anybody here. We’re all in this together, because we believe in the beauty of what we’re creating,” Anders said. “That was mine and my brother’s hope, but he became kind of our megaphone and our justification for the rest of the cast and the crew that we have the opportunity to do something really special here. Not everybody gets a chance to tell stories like this that have this much heart and meaning.”
Nelson became a mentor to the brothers. In the years it took to edit the film and secure the right distribution and partnerships, he would call every couple of months to check in. He didn’t get paid to fly in to Green Bay to promote the film at the Lambeau event, Anders said. He did that out of the goodness of his heart, because he wanted to help.
“He just believed in us, me and my brother, and ultimately he just became a great friend through it,” he said. “I keep telling him, ‘I wish you could live to be 150 so we could keep making more movies together.’”
From local farmers to LeRoy Butler, the acts of kindness are many
“Green and Gold” wouldn’t have happened if not for countless the acts of kindness — a theme echoed in the film — beginning with the local farmers.
John Sawyer, who has a cameo, didn’t just let them shoot in his Egg Harbor barn, he helped load hay bales in and out and gathered other helping hands. Much of the principal filming was done at the Dave and Tamie Grasse farm in the town of Sevastopol, where 40 or more cars would descend on the property each morning and park in their field. Lucy Meinert of the Philip and Mary Bley farm in West Jacksonport was the on-set “animal wrangler” and veterinarian.
The Lindwalls’ sister organized a choir that drove four hours from Michigan and spent the day waiting in the church basement as they were shuffled in and out of their scenes at Stewards of Grace Ministries in Brussels. That’s their uncle’s blue Chevy truck that figures prominently into the film.
Someone donated the use of their new $20,000 RV so that the filmmakers could give Nelson a comfortable place to get out of the cold in between scenes. Not an amenity the star requested; just a courtesy they wanted to provide. Businesses in downtown Sturgeon Bay let them close the street for a key tractor scene. The list goes on.
“The amount of people who just gave of themselves to help us out for this thing is crazy,” Anders said.
Former Packers safety LeRoy Butler drove up from Milwaukee and spent the better part of the day hanging out with the cast and crew, signing autographs for extras and handing out his Leap Vodka for the scene near Lambeau Field that was the final day of filming. Butler, who has a cameo, also was key to introducing the filmmakers to NFL Films to secure the rights to the Packers footage from the ’90s used in the movie.
In order to get the film into theaters, it needed a brand partner. The Lindwalls got it in front of the marketing team at Culver’s, the Wisconsin-based restaurant chain. It was with tears in their eyes, Anders said, that they agreed to come on board in support of their nonprofit, the Thank You Farmers Project.
“They didn’t ask us to change a thing in the film. … They just said, ‘How can we help get the message out? This is exactly what we believe in,’” he said.
The Green Bay Packers are also partners on the film.
What began with an idea in 2019 and started in earnest in 2020 after the first investor signed on is days away from playing screens across the country, and for Anders, who now lives in Fort Collins, Colorado, and Davin, in Temecula, California, it feels surreal.
The 206,000 views the trailer has racked up on YouTube is more than anything else they’ve ever done. Their day job is Childe, a commercial production company that does storytelling for brands.
“I feel like we’ve been running this marathon, because you’re just pushing everything uphill,” Anders said on the red carpet at Lambeau. “How can we get cows here? How can we get funding here? How can we get Craig T. Nelson here?”
Now comes the chance at last to take a breath and share “Green and Gold” with audiences, and not just all the people who will be buying their tickets in Wisconsin and the U.P.
“I get mostly excited to think about folks who have moved away from this area, and the wafts of nostalgia that I know are going to hit people are going to be really strong,” Anders said. “I get really excited just giving them a glimpse of home and giving them a glimpse of that wholesome Midwest beauty.
“It is our first movie, but I don’t know if we’ll be able to pack more soul into a film than this one.”
Want to go see ‘Green and Gold’?
“Green and Gold” is currently scheduled for a one-week run from Friday through Feb. 6 in about 1,000 theaters across the country. To find where it’s showing near you, type in your ZIP code at fathomentertainment.com/events/green-and-gold. Tickets can be purchased through Fathom Entertainment or at the theaters.
Kendra Meinert is an entertainment and feature writer at the Green Bay Press-Gazette. Contact her at 920-431-8347 or kmeinert@greenbay.gannett.com. Follow her on X @KendraMeinert.
How 2 Yoopers made a Packers movie in Door County
Two die-hard Green Bay Packers fans from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, also known as Yoopers, recently took their love for the team to the next level by creating a Packers-themed movie in Door County, Wisconsin.
The duo, who have been friends since childhood, came up with the idea for the film during a visit to Lambeau Field. Inspired by the rich history and traditions of the Packers, they decided to combine their passion for filmmaking with their love of the team.
Despite having no prior experience in movie production, the Yoopers dove headfirst into the project, enlisting the help of friends and family to bring their vision to life. They scouted locations in Door County that would serve as the backdrop for the film, including iconic spots like Cave Point and Sister Bay.
The movie, titled “Cheeseheads: A Packers Tale,” follows the fictional journey of a group of die-hard Packers fans as they embark on a road trip to Lambeau Field for a crucial game against their arch-rivals. Along the way, they encounter hilarious mishaps, heartwarming moments, and a few surprises that test their loyalty to the team.
Despite facing numerous challenges and setbacks during production, the Yoopers remained determined to see their project through to completion. After months of hard work, late nights, and countless cups of coffee, they finally premiered the film to a small group of friends and family in Door County.
The movie was met with rave reviews, with many praising the Yoopers for their creativity, dedication, and unwavering love for the Packers. The duo has since submitted the film to several film festivals and are hopeful that it will reach a wider audience in the near future.
For these two Yoopers, creating a Packers movie in Door County was not just a passion project – it was a labor of love that brought together their shared love for the team and their mutual desire to create something truly unique and special. And who knows, maybe one day their film will be screened at Lambeau Field, fulfilling a dream that started with a simple visit to the hallowed grounds of the Green Bay Packers.
Tags:
- Yoopers
- Packers movie
- Door County
- Wisconsin film
- Midwest filmmakers
- Green Bay Packers
- Wisconsin tourism
- Small town cinema
- Midwestern culture
- Independent filmmakers
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