Self-Published Book Being Re-Made into Movie

Aside from the main characters, nearly 90 local children were extras during this scene of the new independent film

Aside from the main characters, nearly 90 local children were extras during this scene of the new independent film “A Wish for Giants.” Filming continues until June 2017. (submitted photo).

by Jonathan Weaver

A Kittanning writer is taking his novel to the big screen this Fall.

With the help of Armstrong Junior/Senior High School TV Production Teacher Don Swanson, more than a dozen principal actors and more than a hundred extras, Aaron Dunbar - of Blanket Hill – will be making his second novel “A Wish for Giants” come alive as a movie.

A self-employed landscape architect, Dunbar finished publishing the novel in 2015. He described the book’s main plot and how he was encouraged to make a movie version of the story.

“’A Wish for Giants’” is about a little girl with an inoperable brain tumor. She collapses on her playground at school, (so) her mother takes her to the doctor – and she also collapses at the doctor’s office. When they go to the ER, they find out she has an inoperable brain tumor,” Dunbar explained. “The doctor suggests referring her to a wish-granting entity, and her wish is to find Bigfoot.

“Since (the book) had Bigfoot in it, one of the cast members (Cliff Barackman) from ‘Finding Bigfoot’ (on the channel Animal Planet) bought my book and invited me to a Bigfoot conference in May last year – where all the big gurus and personalities from television and researchers converge. I got to meet him and several others, and they kind-of encouraged me to make it into a movie,” Dunbar said.

Filming began at the former-Kittanning Township Elementary School October 15 and continued October 22 at Olsen Chiropractic in West Kittanning.

The cast and crew will next film within a few weeks. Dunbar hopes for principal filming to be completed in June.

A November 13 all-you-can-eat spaghetti dinner is planned to help raise funds for production. Beginning at noon at the Elderton Towne Hall, adults and children will also be able to win prizes in a Chinese auction, buy T-shirts and receive copies of the novel – as well as take selfies with an eight-foot Bigfoot!

Dunbar is still seeking extras for upcoming scenes in the movie. Interested actors can contact him via a form or information on the film’s website, www.awishforgiants.com.

categories Local News | October 31, 2016

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