SPOKANE, Wash. — Vision Quest actor Matthew Modine is back in the Lilac City to commemorate the movie’s 40th anniversary.
In the movie, Modine remembers running over every single bridge in Spokane, immortalizing the city’s local landmarks and putting both Modine and Spokane on the map.
“It’s just as fresh and beautiful as it was back in ’84,” Modine said.
This isn’t the first time Modine has made his way back to Spokane; he visited in 2012 and 2017, where he served as a tour guide to several KXLY employees, showing them to various shooting locations in the film, like the Ridpath Hotel.
His role in Vision Quest jumpstarted his career and led to him getting cast in Full Metal Jacket. He went on later to become Gotham’s deputy commissioner of police in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises.
Now, Modine is in Spokane ahead of the Spokane International Film Festival, meeting community members and aspiring film students at Gonzaga.
During a two hour Q&A, Modine shared advice and stories, like how he convinced Stanley Kubrick to not kill off his character in Full Metal Jacket.
“He should live Stanley, because that is the real horror of war: having to spend the rest of your life with that in your mind,” Modine said.
Out of all the places in Spokane, Modine said the ones that stand out the most are the bridges he used to run across.
“As a spiritual metaphor, it’s so important to be able to have those kind of bridges to bring communities together,” he said. “That’s the purpose the bridge is built for is to bring communities together.”
The 40th Anniversary screening of ‘Vision Quest’ is March 9 at the Fox Theater. Doors open at 5pm.
The Spokane International Film Festival runs from March 7-9. Tickets can be purchased here.
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