Posted Tuesday, March 14, 2006, The OG, arts

“Crab Orchard,” a movie set in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and filmed on location during the summer of 2003 in the Monticello area, will have its Midwest premiere 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Virginia Theatre in downtown Champaign.

Tickets are $5. They can be purchased at the ticket office (open from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.) or by phone (217-356-9063). Seating is general admission. Doors open at 6:15 p.m. The Virginia is located at 203 W. Park.

Sophomore Kumars Salehi is among the cast members. He plays Amir, an Arab boy who is befriended by one of the main characters, Clay (Dylan Patton).

The movie stars Ruby Handler as Kim Thomas, a woman whose brother is killed during 9/11. After the events of that day, she and her New York firefighter husband, played by Judge Reinhold, drift apart. She decides to move with her son, Clay, to the rural Midwestern town of Crab Orchard, where they will live with her father, played by veteran actor Ed Asner.

Besides Salehi, who has a credited part in the film, the “Crab Orchard” cast includes many area residents as extras.

The movie was shot in the summer of 2003 just before Salehi entered Uni as a subfreshman. That fall, Matthew Freeman wrote a feature story for the Gargoyle about Salehi's experiences. The story was published in the Oct. 16, 2003, issue of the paper and can be found here.

— Gargoyle staff