SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The indie film director and Sacramento native Nick Leisure watched as tragic events unfolded 28 years ago.
Forty-one people were taken hostage, three of whom were killed by the gunmen. Three of the four hostage-takers were also killed. The event remains the largest hostage event in United States history.
Leisure was a high school student in South Sacramento when he watched the news unfold in his neighborhood. He walked to the Good Guys electronics store, near the then Florin Mall, and watched as the situation unraveled over eight hours.
Now, the filmmaker has turned what he saw into a movie, which he described as about 50 percent research-based and 50 percent Hollywood-twist. The film does not take place in the 1990s and instead during present day. While the film takes place in Sacramento, it was filmed in Baja, Mexico.
The film also tries to balance telling the story of the hostage-takers and of the law enforcement trying to negotiate the situation, Leisure said.
“By all means, I’m not saying they did the right thing in any kind of way,” Leisure explained. “But they felt that they weren’t getting the right break in the U.S. and were getting treated, racially, a certain way…”
The film premiered at Esquire Imax Theater in July. Leisure is currently working with theaters to have it shown in 300 to 500 theaters in the U.S and on Netflix.
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