SHORT TAKES : Sandusky, Ohio, Goes Hollywood

Filmgoers in the Sandusky area will be among the first to see a movie written by Sandusky native Karen Lee Hopkins and filmed in two northwestern Ohio cities.

The film, “Welcome Back, Roxy Carmichael,” was to open tonight at the State Theatre, whose manager, Rick Diehl, said he planned to offer a Hollywood-style premiere.

“You will see spotlights, you’ll see limousines, you’ll see a red carpet, you’ll see palms in the lobby of the theater,” Diehl said. “It’s just a real pleasure to be able to host something like this.”

Hopkins had a hand in arranging the premiere at the State, which will use the showing as a fund-raiser for the theater’s restoration.

The movie, starring Winona Ryder, Dinah Manoff and Jeff Daniels, is about a successful girl from Clyde, Ohio, who returns home. Some scenes were filmed in Ohio, and the rest were shot in a small town in California.

“Life is starting to imitate art, in which now Karen is coming back as a celebrity in her small town in Sandusky,” Diehl said. “So we’re really looking forward to the premiere.”