Crime thriller filmed in southwestern Illinois, St. Louis area starts streaming Jan. 27
An award-winning movie filmed in southwestern Illinois and the St. Louis metro area will be available for streaming on Apple TV+, Amazon and other platforms Jan. 27.
“All Gone Wrong” was filmed across the metro, including locations in Granite City, south St. Louis County and St. Charles.
The crime thriller tells the story of a rookie undercover cop killed in a drug bust gone south. The veteran officer he worked with is put on leave during the shooting’s investigation and decides to start his own inquiry, uncovering an extensive rural drug network in the process.
Although writer and director Josh Guffey can now enjoy rewatching the film and seeing it succeed, filming “All Gone Wrong” got off to a rocky start. Most of the movie’s investors pulled out two weeks before shooting was set to begin, Guffey told the News-Democrat.
Once the cast made it to the first filming location, the Granite City steel mill, challenges continued to abound. The first day of shooting involved a climactic action scene with live blanks on rough terrain.
“The location there is very tough. It’s closed down for a reason, and it’s got a bunch of rubble and things like that,” Guffey said.
Guffey’s car was used for a main character’s vehicle, so it was on set in Granite City. When someone went to move the car to prepare the scene, they accidentally ran over and got stuck on a concrete block.
After salvaging the car situation, filming began as rain poured through the building’s steel roof and the film crew had to manage a wet set.
“With all that said, we were able to go through those first two days of shooting and capture that climactic action scene and we never had to revisit, we never did any reshoots,” Guffey said.
Guffey and his crew filmed for four days in June 2019, then paused to focus on rounding up more investors and generating interest in the project.
In August 2019, Guffey had been able to find investors to fund the budget, and filming resumed. “All Gone Wrong” was filmed in a total of 19 days.
“I don’t know if a lot of people understand, but that’s an incredibly fast amount of time to shoot a feature film,” Guffey said.
The crew worked in multiple locations each day under tight time constraints while navigating actor Tony Todd’s schedule, Guffey said. Todd, known for his role in Candyman, plays Lamont Hughes in “All Gone Wrong.”
“I’m really proud at how we were able to move that fast and still surpass my expectations about what the movie was going to look and feel like,” Guffey said.
Two main factors contributed to Guffey’s decision to film in St. Louis: the ability to sleep in his own bed throughout the process and the diverse landscape the metro offers for filming.
“Saint Louis is an amazing place to shoot a movie, and we had all the things we needed for this particular story right here in town,” Guffey said.
Much of the film was shot in nearby suburb St. Charles, but an important, climactic scene was shot in Granite City.
“I had no doubts about shooting here,” Guffey continued.
Inspiration for “All Gone Wrong”
Guffey began conducting background research for his debut film when his sister became a police officer. Throughout college, Guffey interviewed his sister and her supervisors to see if any of their stories lent themselves to the screen.
The supervisors told him about undercover narcotics work they had done in the 1980s. One story in particular stood out — an investigator was contracted to go undercover to help a department with a local drug problem. It reminded Guffey of an old Western.
A man Guffey played football with in high school ended up becoming a narcotics agent with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, and the filmmaker got the opportunity to conduct research with him.
“A lot of the dialogue in the film is just basically transcribed from real conversations I had heard while I was kind of shadowing him,” Guffey said. “And then I was able to bring Jake Kaufman, the lead actor, into the process. And he was able to go on these ride-alongs and really see everything firsthand and be close to it and get trained.”
Guffey said his writing style blends old Western characteristics with grounded, procedural police scenes based on his research. While the movie is fiction, he was inspired by a Kewanee, Ill., case.
The movie is set in Kewanee, but close viewers can enjoy local Easter eggs, such as Missouri signage and filming locations, including the Granite City steel mill and Dave’s Diner in St. Louis County.
“All Gone Wrong” won seven awards from the 2022 St. Louis Filmmaker Showcase, including:
Best Costumes
Best Production Design/Art Direction - Cameron McCarthy
Best Editing - Bret Hoy
Best Cinematography - Levi Kirby
Best Actor - Jake Kaufman
Best Narrative Feature over 20 minutes - Josh Guffey
Chellapa-Vedavalli Foundation Best of Fest Essy Award - Josh Guffey
Guffey has already begun work on his next film, which will focus on a series of airplane hijackings in the St. Louis area in the 1970s. He’s almost done with the script’s first draft, and he’s deep into the research process.
Between library visits, calling public records offices and doing interviews along with his freelance work with Vidzu, Guffey keeps busy. He plans to film his next movie locally, as he’s familiar with crews and potential set locations.
This story was originally published January 18, 2023 at 12:56 PM.
