Thriller movie filmed in Kansas City and Overland Park: ‘You don’t see this every day’
The backdrop of Lifetime’s newest crime thriller? The historic streets of downtown Overland Park and other Kansas City area neighborhoods.
“The Girl in the Garage,” which will premiere on Lifetime on Jan. 18, was mostly shot around the metro: near Swope Park, inside Midtown Market grocery store, outside Parisi in downtown Overland Park, at Monstera’s Books and at a few other locations.
It stars actors Paige Hurd (“Everybody Hates Chris” and “Power Book II: Ghost”), Stephen Bishop (“Moneyball” and “Battleship), and Brad James (“Prisoners” and “A House Divided”).
Kansas City-based filmmaker Khalid Abdulqaadir, a producer for the movie, is keeping tight-lipped about plot details for now. All he can say is that it’s a psychological thriller based on a true story.
The story itself, however, did not take place in Kansas City. Nonetheless, he’s proud to have brought the film to the area.
“We always try to spread the resources around, so we intentionally try to have an economic impact where we’re shooting films,” he said.
Abdulqaadir’s company, AGA Productions, has been filming the movie for the past few weeks. Last week, his team was in downtown Overland Park, inside Monstera’s at 7930 Floyd St.
While the charming downtown is more known for its farmers markets and family-friendly events than its Hollywood appeal, Abdulqaadir said it turned out to be the perfect place to shoot his movie. Reggie Banks of Studio 79 boutique, 7918 Floyd St., helped with the film’s costumes.
“That location just happened to have a bookstore that was near-identical to what was written in the script,” Abdulqaadir said.
Krysten Brown, event activation coordinator with downtown Overland Park, helped with the movie’s permitting process earlier in the process.
She got to stop by and peek at the excitement Oct. 21.
It was surreal for Brown to see the film crew set up shop in the Monstera’s parking lot, bringing in the lights, sound equipment, a portable tent and movie trailers. The crew set up its monitors and director’s chairs in the bookstore’s backroom.
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Monstera’s was closed all day last Monday.
“When I got told about this, I was like ‘Oh, that’s really exciting,’” Brown said. “You don’t see this every day.”
Umer Javed said he’s thrilled to see his business, Midtown Market at 3967 Main St., get its time in the limelight. The film crew came by to shoot at his grocery store Friday, though he didn’t tell his employees the film crew was coming until that morning.
The team was just as starstruck as he was.
“You kinda felt like you were in California, where all the big movies are shot,” Javed said. “Everybody got kinda excited.”
Abdulqaadir said he filmed at an Airbnb in the area, as well as at the Park 39 housing development, in the former Westport Middle School and High School campuses
It’s true — Kansas City isn’t a popular filming site in the industry. But a new film tax bill that passed earlier this year, meant to incentivize filming in Missouri, could change that.
The legislation authorizes tax credit up to 20% of expenses, with additional credits offered for certain qualifications, like 15% of a movie being filmed in a rural area and positively marketing a part of the state.
AGA has produced several short films locally. However, Abdulqaadir admitted it’s been a bit of a long struggle to get larger projects rolling. He’d like to see the film tax revised to add more inclusive language, further encouraging producers of color to develop Missouri projects.
“We just worked our way up to this opportunity,” he said. “It’s been an uphill battle for us to get to where we are now. As a disabled veteran, minority-owned business … it’s really tough.”
Hallmark’s “Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story,” inspired by Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s romance, was recently filmed around Kansas City, the Independence Square and at Arrowhead Stadium.
The movie will feature players like Mecole Hardman Jr. and George Karlaftis, and it will premiere Nov. 30 at 7 p.m. on the Hallmark Channel.
This story was originally published October 30, 2024 at 1:39 PM.