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Brad Douglas says he had Brookings in mind when he wrote “Bad Fish.”

Growing up in Grants Pass, Douglas would often escape to the coast, taking the cutoff at North Bank Road to head back into Oregon. He said he based several scenes in the film off places he frequented growing up, such as the Voodoo Lounge at Sporthaven Marina.

But he hadn’t counted on the weather turning into its own character or leading them to the setting for a pivotal moment in the movie — the mermaid wedding scene.

“We were going to shoot it at Whaleshead [Beach] and I realized it’s November. I’ve got half naked women in this ritual thing going on and with torches and that’s how the scene’s written, there’s no way we can shoot this on the beach,” Douglas said, adding that he was also concerned for one of his actors, Marlyn Mason, who was 82 in 2022 when they shot the film. “I told my assistant director … we need to find some weird little place that looks Wiccan that’s kind of a chapel, and then there’s Capella by the Sea, an A-frame Wiccan-looking place.”

For Douglas, the landmark’s origins, that film producer Elmo Williams, whose credits include “High Noon” and “Cleopatra,” built the structure, added significance to his own movie.

“William Friedkin, who directed the 'Exorcist', said there’s a couple of things you need in film: God and luck,” Douglas told the Wild Rivers Outpost. “I can understand the production gods, and you got to be lucky sometimes, that’s for sure. But when some of these things happen so serendipitously, you got to be kidding me.”

In addition to writing “Bad Fish,” Douglas produced and directed the film, which opens at Crescent City Cinemas and at several Coming Attraction theaters in the region, including Eureka, McKinleyville and Grants Pass, on Friday.

The film screening in Crescent City at 7:20 p.m. Friday will feature a Q&A with Douglas and stars Jonny Lee and Abby Wathen. Tickets are available here.

“Bad Fish” will also be screened at 10 p.m. Aug. 16 at the Chetco Playhouse as part of the Wild Rivers Film Festival.

The move was shot in Crescent City, Smith River and Brookings in November 2022.

Local moviegoers will recognize several familiar places. This includes the Bank Tavern in Smith River. The Chart Room at the Crescent City Harbor was an alternative to an ice cream shop in Harbor, Oregon the crew was hoping to use, but that ended up falling through.

A U.S. Coast Guard helicopter also makes an appearance.

Ocean World in Crescent City is also a major part of the film. Lee’s character, John Burton, was a professor and “big wig in marine biology” at the Marine Institute in Newport who was demoted due to his drinking.

“Now he’s just one of those tour guides at Ocean World,” Douglas said. “The night before we shoot at Ocean World and we don’t have a script. I texted Mary [Wilson] and asked, ‘do you have a copy of the script they learn and recite when they walk through?' One of the gals who does it wrote out the whole thing and texted it to me and we printed it out and gave it to Jonny and said, ‘know this by the morning.’”

Though he referred to Ocean World as getting sent down to the minor leagues from the majors for his character, Lee called the little aquarium in Crescent City fantastic.

Wathen, who plays the mermaid, Abby, said her character wants to find love and be with her mate. But they have to come on land and find a lucky gentleman to keep the family going, Wathen said.

Wathen credited her work with Mason, who plays her mother, for helping her figure out her character’s motivations. She said she wanted to keep her character as grounded in reality as she possibly could — for a mermaid.

“I remember getting the script and [thinking] ‘Oh wow, this is going to be a journey,’” Wathen said. “But the setting of Brookings really lends itself to that kind of magic. There’s a little bit of eeriness to it and it’s also beautiful. Just being there really helped me get into character.”

For Lee, it was the scene at the Capella that stood out, especially those featuring Lys Agnes, a singer who was featured on America’s Got Talent. Agnes died earlier this year.

“She was way out in the woods and she was warming up her voice, and it was magical,” Lee said. “She’s no longer with us. We lost her. It brings tears to my eyes talking about her. It was beautiful.”

“Bad Fish” is distributed by Barbed Wire Media. The film was also produced by Ray Robison and in addition to Lee, Wathen and Mason stars Mark Schneider and Ken Carpenter.

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