Need for Speed”: Movie”s final race scene filmed in Mendocino County
Tiffany Revelle
Ukiah Daily Journal DreamWorks is today wrapping up the shooting of the final racing scene in its upcoming movie “Need for Speed” on the highways that wind through Mendocino County”s rolling vineyards and along its picturesque coastline. The major motion picture, based on the popular driving game by Electronic Arts, is about a street racer”s […]
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The Ukiah Daily Journal
Ukiah Daily Journal

DreamWorks is today wrapping up the shooting of the final racing scene in its upcoming movie “Need for Speed” on the highways that wind through Mendocino County”s rolling vineyards and along its picturesque coastline.

The major motion picture, based on the popular driving game by Electronic Arts, is about a street racer”s cross-country journey from New York to race on the California coast.

“This is the final race — this is what it”s all about,” DreamWorks line producer Tim Moore said Thursday.

According to Internet Movie Database (IMDb.com), “Fresh from prison, a street racer who was framed by a wealthy business associate joins a cross country race with revenge in mind. His ex-partner, learning of the plan, places a massive bounty on his head as the race begins.”

Filming of the movie”s climactic race from south of Ukiah to Point Arena was expected to finish up in Navarro and Boonville Friday and today, Moore said.

The production company spent the first two weeks of its 14-week shooting schedule filming the movie”s final scenes on stretches of Highways 1, 128 and 253 in Mendocino County.

Picking the location for the last one-seventh of the film was critical enough that the script was rewritten around it when the producer settled on the area, according to Moore.

“Originally we were looking for someplace along the California coastline,” Moore said, adding that the script envisioned the film”s culminating scenes in Southern California, “someplace like Malibu or Santa Barbara.”

DreamWorks began scouting for locations in August and September, and had originally settled on the Carmel and Big Sur area. The area”s coastal commission doesn”t allow filming there because of wildlife habitat preservation measures, he said. But that wasn”t the only reason the producers had to look elsewhere.

“They don”t have quite the access you do on the coast, and the highways that wind around,” Moore said, noting that Mendocino County offers a better view of the ocean from Highway 1.

Having been to Mendocino County before, he recommended it to the producer “because of the cliffs and the look of that” along the coast here. The producer wasn”t the only one who fell for the region”s natural beauty, and not just because of its majestic coastline.

“The cinematographer fell in love with the look of the redwoods, and shooting a chase through the redwoods, which I think has never been shot before,” Moore said.

The script now reflects that the movie”s final climactic scenes take place in Mendocino County, he said.

“We”re playing it like it is,” he said, explaining that the storyline will reflect the fact that the action takes place in Mendocino County. “We”re saying we are exactly where we are.”

The movie”s final race starts south of Ukiah on Highway 253, continues through Boonville, winds down Highway 128 through the redwoods at Navarro, turns south toward Elk on Highway 1 and ends at the Point Arena Lighthouse — another major draw for DreamWorks, according to Moore.

Starring as one of the main characters is Aaron Paul, best known for his role as Jesse Pinkman on the popular TV series “Breaking Bad.”

The cast also includes Michael Keaton (Batman, Beetlejuice), Imogen Poots (Jane Eyre, 28 Weeks Later), Dominic Cooper (Captain America, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter), Rami Malek (Night at the Museum, Breaking Dawn) and Dakota Johnson (Beastly, 21 Jump Street), among others.

The movie is set to be released March 14, 2014, according to IMDb.com. Moore said it should be coming out sometime in the first quarter of 2014, and that Disney will distribute the film.

“We had some who were not happy with the shoot,” he said of local reaction to the filming, which entailed the closure of highways at times. In general, he said, local residents, and officials and property owners were quite welcoming.

DreamWorks has been working with the coastal commission, Bureau of Land Management, property owners and county supervisors to get the necessary permits for the filming, according to Moore. Close to 250 people set up base camp at the Boonville Fairgrounds, which he said was offered for their use.

“We made it our studio,” he said.

The production company also hired local companies and workers for hair and makeup, driving and whatever else needed doing.

“Wherever we could hire local, we did,” Moore said.

Tiffany Revelle can be reached at udjtr@ukiahdj.com, on Twitter @TiffanyRevelle or at 468-3523.