It was 'the day the music died.' Almost 60 years ago, February 3, 1959, a plane carrying Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens went down and now, a new movie will tell that fateful tale. The movie, named Clear Lake, is set to begin filming next year and portions of the movie will be filmed in Iowa.
Clear Lake, Iowa was the last place the trio of musicians would play before the plane crashed in a cornfield outside of Mason City. Producer Patrick French says it's important to film in the area. "There will certainly be some filming in the Clear Lake area, without question. I don't think you can tell the story without doing it. While Hollywood is magic, and you can make a lot of places look like a lot of places, we're not gonna do that."
French says they will focus on Holly's role in one of the first racially integrated musical tours. "They had white, black and brown all on the same bill, which was fairly unheard of during that time. We thought it was important to kind of explore how that tour came together, how the artists interacted one one another and supported one another."
Holly's widow and the company that is the custodian of his musical catalog are part of the production team for Clear Lake.