NC-filmed movie, "Condor's Nest," starring Onslow-area actor to premiere this weekend

A new movie starring an Onslow County-area actor premieres in select theaters and on demand this weekend.

Although not originally from North Carolina, actor Jacob Keohane has spent most of the last decade living in and between Jacksonville and Wilmington. Just five years ago, Keohane starred in the NC-based movie, "Point Man," and also had a role in the Wilmington-filmed movie "Halloween Kills" in 2021.

But starting today, Jan. 27, Keohane's new movie "Condor's Nest" premieres in select theaters nationwide and on video on demand.

"This is a classic war thriller revenge story," said "Condor's Nest" Producer and Director Phil Blattenberger. "It's a war movie for people that don't like war movies and it's a thriller for people who aren't really into thrillers. Little something for everybody."

"Condor's Nest" not only stars Keohane, but also features Arnold Vosloo of "The Mummy" and "Blood Diamond," Michael Ironside of "Top Gun" and "Total Recall," Jackson Rathbone of "Twilight" and "The Last Airbender," Jorge Garcia of "LOST" and "Hawaii Five-0," James Urbaniak of "The Venture Bros." and "The Office" and Academy Award nominee Bruce Davison of "X-Men."

"It's been almost a five-year process, actually," Blattenberger said. "We were filming a movie called 'Point Man' and towards the end of that, I conceptualized the script idea and the story concept with my business partner Dan Black, who's a producer on 'Condor's Nest,' then Jacob Keohane, who's the lead actor and producer, who also starred in 'Point Man.'"

He said the script came to fruition in 2018 and development took place in 2019. Filming was scheduled for 2020 but the COVID-19 pandemic put a halt to that. Filming finally got underway in 2021 and 2022 was spent in post-production.

Filming took place mostly across the state of North Carolina.

"We've always known that North Carolina was a great resource and just had amazing geographical diversity," Keohane said. "When we were in pre-production for the film, Phil traveled to France to do research and it turns out that two hours up the road, there's North Carolina farmland that doubles perfectly for French countryside. You wouldn't think of NC being able to double for Europe and it absolutely did."

Keohane has lived in NC for the last 20 years, and when his acting work started picking up in 2012, he said he was always traveling. He added there were several periods of time that he'd grab a place in Onslow County to live for a few months while he worked.

"I really enjoyed my time there," Keohane said. "I don't know if the southeast gets the credit it deserves for how artistically inspiring a place it is. I like the pace; I like the people. When you're always on the road, I'm just not a city guy, I like some trees and some nature."

Keohane added that he just absolutely loves acting, specifically eccentric character roles. He said although 'Condor's Nest has elements' of Indiana Jones and James Bond, the character he plays, Will Spalding, is the opposite of those characters. Spalding doesn't have a wide skill set, or snappy comebacks.

"Towards the end of our 'Point Man' production, Phil actually approached me with the seed of the idea of kind of this globe-trotting, sprawling adventure in which an American World War II veteran would be pursuing a man across South America with perhaps a morally ambiguous sidekick," Keohane said. "He said after having me play the villain in 'Point Man,' he was interested in having me possibly play the lead in this. He fleshed out the script and brought it to me and we got to work."

Keohane said they realized very early on that since Spalding is not the loquacious type, a lot of the work would have to be internal. He said the audience has to see where he is emotionally through his eyes.

"It was having that whole insane internal world going on that when the camera's rolling, it'll only be conveyed with stillness," Keohane said.

Blattenberger said the movie was built out as a smart but fun film, adding it's a popcorn flick that has an 80s-90s pastiche to it. He said audience members can grab a bucket of popcorn, kick back and enjoy for an hour and 40-minutes.

Although 'Condor's Nest' is releasing this weekend, that doesn't mean work for Blattenberger and Keohane is over. Blattenberger said he's already in development right now on another film called Without Consequence that's set out in Nevada in the 1960s following a couple of U.S. Marshalls hunting down a fugitive.

"It sounds on the nose similar to 'Condor's Nest' in terms of hunting down a bad guy, but it's quite different," Blattenberger said. "We're in development on that now, we'll probably shoot out later this year. We're staying busy. Right now, we're just dialed in on focusing on this 'Condor's Nest' release. It'll be in select theaters across the country and releasing on VOD. Kind of doing double-duty here."

Reporter's Review 

I had the chance to view 'Condor's Nest' for myself prior to writing this story, and Blattenberger's right - it's a war movie for those who don't like war movies and a thriller for those who don't like thrillers.

I, myself, love a good thriller but war movies are not so much my thing. However, Will Spalding's unyielding determination for finding the Nazi war criminal responsible for the deaths of his fellow military-men was a blast to watch.

Keohane's portrayal of Spalding certainly succeeded. I was able to feel the turmoil and drive through his eyes, that internal struggle he spoke about. I found myself truly rooting for this underdog.

The film had everything from hard-to-watch action scenes to moments of comedic relief. And the ending scene? Hilarious, satisfying and shocking all at the same time. My eyes actually widened when I realized what was happening. And to think this "French countryside" was our very own North Carolina landscape.

Reporter Morgan Starling can be reached at mstarling@jdnews.com. 

This article originally appeared on The Daily News: NC-filmed movie, "Condor's Nest," starring Onslow-area actor to premiere this weekend