Scott Beck and Bryan Woods have been making movies together since the sixth grade, when they were growing up in Bettendorf. Their humble beginnings making amateur films on a camcorder have grown tremendously — the two are both now successful Hollywood filmmakers, and still work together as partners.
While they were students at the University of Iowa, Beck and Woods formed the idea that eventually became their screenplay for the 2018 film A Quiet Place starring Emily Blunt and John Krasinski.
Their latest writing and directorial effort 65, co-produced with Sam Raimi is a sci-fi horror film starring Adam Driver and takes place on a prehistoric Earth. Complete with spacecraft and dinosaurs, Beck joked that it feels like "combining all of our different action figure toy sets into one movie."
If releasing a major studio film this March and adapting a Stephen King short-story for a feature-length release in June 2023 weren't enough for the UI alums, the two are turning to a new project back home in the Quad Cities. They plan to open a specialty cinema in Davenport in May.
Called The Last Picture House, it will serve as a specialty cinema and social lounge. With its Hollywood connections the theater plans to host exclusive events featuring actors alongside local filmmakers, and will celebrate cult classics and new indie and international releases in addition to the latest blockbusters.
"We really wanna foster that community and we think Iowa has such a fascinating cinematic history," Beck said.
The two-story cinema will open in the historic East 2nd Street Motor Row Building, retrofitted to feature state-of-the-art viewing screens, 35mm capabilities and a rooftop for enjoying films and drinks from the cocktail bar in the summertime. The duo received a Destination Iowa grant from the governor's office of $600,000 for the estimated $3.7 million project.
The former communication majors have come a long way since their stop-motion films in the Quad Cities, but they're ready to bring some of their movie magic back home to share, and do so, as always — together.
"Being two kids from Iowa, we had no idea how to make it in the business, and forge a path in Hollywood, it felt like an impossible journey," Woods said. "Doing it with your best friend and trying to build relationships and build a body of work and build the trust of studios is a long road, and it's been so much fun doing it with Scott."
