LA GRANDE — Returning to La Grande was a lot like coming home for H. Nelson Tracey, the writer and director of “Breakup Season.”

The romantic drama, which was filmed entirely in La Grande in 2023, had its local debut on Friday, Oct. 19, during the Eastern Oregon Film Festival. Residents, cast and crew members, family and friends filled the seats at Eastern Oregon University’s McKenzie Theater for the sold-out screening.

“Five years ago I came to La Grande a stranger and tonight it feels like I’m coming home,” Tracey said.

The conclusion of the movie was met with a standing ovation from the audience. Tracey said it was the biggest crowd the film has drawn so far.

And the packed house enjoyed some moments in the film that catered to a local audience.

Tracey said there were lines that drew laughs at the La Grande screening that had never gotten laughs at the other film festivals where the movie has played. (No spoilers, but as someone who’s only lived in La Grande for a couple of years, these moments even got me laughing.)

The movie won the Eastern Oregon Film Festival’s Audience Choice Award for best narrative feature. 

Movie recap

In “Breakup Season,” a young man, Ben (Chandler Riggs, best-known for “The Walking Dead”), brings his girlfriend Cassie (Samantha Isler, from “Molly’s Game”) to his hometown in rural Oregon to meet his family for the holidays.

Things don’t go well and, as the title of the movie suggests, the two break up. It’s not an amicable split and Cassie wants nothing more than to get some space away from Ben.

But when a raging winter storm shuts down Interstate 84, she’s stuck with her newly minted ex and his family until the end of Christmas.

Interspersed with the funny, dramatic and bittersweet scenes that explore the relationships — both romantic and familial — are picturesque shots of Union County.

Much of the movie was shot at the home of Rikke and Truls Finbraten on Morgan Lake Road, but the film also features the La Grande/Union County Airport and well-known locations in downtown La Grande, such as the Market Underground, Hobby Habit, The Archives and the Liberty Theatre Cafe.

Origin story

Tracey first encountered the Eastern Oregon Film Festival in 2019, when it showed his short documentary “Picture Jasper.” He returned to Union County in May 2021 as one of the inaugural participants in the month-long filmmaker residency program sponsored by the festival.

(Chris Jennings, the festival director and one of the movie’s producers, said the program evolved out of a desire to see films produced in Eastern Oregon.)

Tracey said that the screenplay for “Breakup Season” was the one he was always getting asked about, so it felt like the one to make.

The 2022 festival included a reading of the script, which Tracey said was a great opportunity to get pointed feedback about what needed to be tweaked from a local perspective. He added that it was a safe place to incubate the screenplay.

A reunion

The La Grande screening was like a family reunion for the actors who made the trip. Riggs was joined by Brook Hogan (who plays Ben’s mother, Mia), Carly Stewart (who took on the role of his younger sister Liz) and Jacob Wysocki (whose on-screen counterpart is Ben’s older brother Gordon).

Each of the actors had stories about their time filming in La Grande.

Hogan said that the community became an extension of the family that the actors shared on screen. Every interaction she shared was memorable.

“God, I love La Grande. I could cry,” she said. “The warmth — despite the cold — from the community was wonderful.”

Stewart, who grew up in the Mount Vernon area in Washington, said La Grande felt a lot like home. She added that it has become a special place for all of the cast.

Riggs spoke about how wherever the cast would go, they would bump into someone they knew.

Wysocki called La Grande spellbinding. He shared that when he was chatting with a bartender one day, the man drew him a map to where he could go to find elk.

Similar sentiment was also shared by the crew.

Tracey pointed to the puzzle that the characters work on throughout the movie. The puzzle has a lot of white, which apparently made it pretty difficult to put together. So, Rikke Finbraten told the director she’d bring in the big guns. She had six elderly folk from town come out and they got that puzzle done.

Stephen Mastrocola, one of the movie’s four producers, said that there were many moments like that during the filming process.

He explained that when he first came to La Grande, he didn’t understand the city’s microclimates. While the area around the Finbraten home was covered in snow, much of downtown La Grande was without the wintery staple. Mastrocola said the crew shot the movie’s shopping sequence downtown without any snow — only to wake up the next morning and find there had been a storm overnight.

After receiving this surprise from Mother Nature, the filmmakers opted to reshoot the scenes. However, this meant that the cast and crew didn’t have time to go to Pendleton, as originally planned, to shoot the airport scenes.

Mastrocola credits local officials for getting the production quick access to the La Grande/Union County Airport, so that the scenes could be filmed there instead.

What comes next

Both Riggs and Stewart both plan to continue working with independent films. Stewart said she’s involved in an indie horror film and Hogan also just wrapped up work on a short film.

As for Jacob Wysocki’s immediate plans, the actor joked that he intended to drink “1,000 Rainiers.”

An audience member asked Tracey if there was any chance for a sequel. The writer-director responded with a laugh, saying that could go one of two ways: “Make Up Season or Jacob Season.”

Check out the trailer for “Breakup Season” now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fo0h6Dvh96w.

“Breakup Season” will be available to watch through video-on-demand this holiday season, according to a press release.

The film will be available for rental and purchase Dec. 6 on Amazon, Apple TV, Google Play and select cable platforms.

The movie also plans a brief theatrical run Nov. 15-21 in selected cities.