When news broke last June that Will Ferrell, Laura Dern and director Max (son of The Fonz) Winkler had signed up to make a movie about Collin Street Bakery, called Fruitcake, it sent jitters through Corsicana. Although the producers — among them Jordan Horowitz of La La Land — hadn’t yet settled on a location for filming, the town of 23,000 sensed the impending glow of the spotlight. It was just a matter of time.
Except, they didn’t even have to wait that long. Last month, Cheer happened. As cameras trained in on Navarro College and its cheerleading squad, Corsicana became the site of a national phenomenon way ahead of schedule. Now with the show’s six episodes out (and no plans for a second season as of yet), its stars are taking a victory lap. Earlier this month, Cheer’s Jerry Harris hit the Oscars red carpet after Ellen DeGeneres tapped him to go interview stars for her. Afterward, he was off to the Vanity Fair party for additional elbow-rubbing.
Meanwhile, producers on Fruitcake continued to labor quietly on its development. Then last week, on the Netflix podcast Present Company, former Vanity Fair editor Krista Smith asked coach Monica Aldama of Cheer fame what she thought of Collin Street Bakery. Her answer touched less on the food than it did on the upcoming film.
And thus, a tidal wave of media coverage ensued, with everyone from local TV stations to the New York Post putting out word: the town Cheer made famous was getting an encore.
The story that the film plans to tell had its own headlines a few years back. Its protagonist is Sandy Jenkins, the former corporate controller at Collin Street Bakery who managed to siphon $16 million from the company before pleading guilty to felony charges in 2014 and receiving a 10-year prison sentence. Jenkins died last March, a few months before news of the film was announced.
Max Winkler, the man set to direct, made his most recent mark with the comedy-drama Flower, starring Zoey Deutch. He got the script from a guy you’ve never heard of named Trey Selman, a native Texan who wrote it on spec in 2016 after following Jenkins’ story.
Sure, two big-screen productions zeroing in on the same town is a bizarre coincidence. But is it really all that unlikely? Hollywood has always loved Texas. The only difference is this time, the stars are aligning — for whatever reason — near mile 230 off I-45.
