“Green and Gold” from the heart

GREEN BAY, Wis. — Dairy farming and the Green Bay Packers are synonymous with Wisconsin, an essence that is at the heart of the recently released independent film “Green and Gold,” which chronicles a fourth-generation dairy farmer on the verge of losing the family farm.

The film was created by brothers Anders and Davin Lindwall, who brought the story to life. Anders directed the film and Davin produced it.

“Our grandfather was a dairy farmer in Stevenson, Michigan, near Menominee,” Anders Lindwall said. “The dairy closed after his death, but the land was still cropped for a neighbor’s dairy farm. We grew up with cousins who were dairy farmers and involved in FFA.”

The pair make their living creating commercials for businesses, but the allure of filmmaking has always called them, so they returned to their Upper Peninsula roots to look for inspiration.

“A general principle of filmmaking is to look close to home to create things that are meaningful to you,” Lindwall said. “We were surprised at how little the farming community is represented in film, for how important and prominent it is in our lives.”

The project began to grow when one of their commercial clients inquired about what other projects they were working on. When they shared the premise of what was at that time called, “God Loves the Green Bay Packers,” their client was intrigued and backed the project, providing start-up capital for the Lindwalls.

In the film, the main character is facing the foreclosure of his farm. He makes a deal with the banker: if the Packers can bring home the Lombardi Trophy, his loan will be extended.

“Movies are high-risk investments; nine out of 10 lose money,” Lindwall said. “We brought the Packers into the story to help expand the viability of the audience.”

The film pays homage to Wisconsin’s nearly universal love of the Packers. Even the franchise itself has become involved.

“Once the Packers caught the vision, they went all in,” Lindwall said. “It was like an out-of-body experience.”

The Packers, along with their corporate partners, came to appreciate the project for its wholesome nature.

“‘Green and Gold’ portrays the story of Packers fans’ devotion to legacy and community,” said Justin Wolf, director of the Packers corporate sales and activations. “It’s a must-see; we are proud to be part of a story celebrating supporting one another and showcasing the critical role that family farms play across our great state of Wisconsin, and beyond.”

With multiple pieces of the puzzle beginning to fall in place, the Lindwalls turned their thoughts towards preparing for production. Davin’s wife suggested that actor Craig T. Nelson was a perfect choice for the role of Buck, the main character in the story.

“Our casting directors kind of laughed us out of the room when we said we wanted Craig,” Lindwall said. “At that point, we were just fishing for anything we could get. Craig literally called us the next day after he read the script and said he wanted to do this film with us. He’s been the best, so gracious to us as first-time filmmakers.”

The story appealed to Nelson on several levels.

“The story felt personal,” Nelson said in a press release. “I felt a real connection to it because the Nelson family farm has been a working farm in South Dakota since the Civil War; and my wife’s family were also farmers.”

Nelson’s character is a quintessential Wisconsin dairy farmer, a man who names his cows after legendary Packers players while facing a bevy of issues that are part of the everyday landscape for many in the state’s ever-changing dairy industry.

“There’s some Hollywood fun, like plowing fields with horses and milking cows by hand —Buck’s friends nicknamed him ‘Horse and Buggy,’” Lindwall said. “It’s not a documentary on dairy farming, it’s just about the person Buck is, doing things as old-school as he can. There are a lot of authentic moments dairy farmers can relate to, especially the parts about family.”

The movie, filmed entirely in Wisconsin, touches on many of the complex and difficult social issues facing the dairy farm community in rural America, Lindwall said.

“I think that is a unique component, sharing that vulnerability,” Lindwall said. “A lot of people wouldn’t think the dairy industry, filled with people that are so salt of the earth, would have such an alarming rate of suicide.”

As the Lindwalls moved into the marketing and distribution phase of their project, the Culver’s restaurant franchise signed on to support the project.

“There aren’t a lot of brands that are more general population brands that have the farming attachment that Culver’s does with their Thank You Farmers Project,” Lindwall said. “We were thrilled when they signed on after telling us they loved the film — that it represented everything they believe in.”

Culver’s dedication to rural communities, supporting agricultural education by donating millions of dollars, impressed the Lindwalls so much that at the end of the movie, there is a QR code to make a donation to support the Thank You Farmers Project.

As the brothers prepared to release “Green and Gold,” their original goals were small: hoping the film would appear in maybe 100 theaters throughout Wisconsin.

“Our distributor sent out a screener link, nationwide, nearly 1,000 theaters across the country signed up to take it and 100 theaters in Canada expressed interest,” Lindwall said. “My jaw dropped; I nearly fell out of my chair when they sent me the list.”

The experience of living out their dream and making a film that hits close to home, has been one Lindwall said he and his brother will cherish forever.

“The farmers we grew up around and knew, they were an important part of our lives, and we wanted to share that story,” Lindwall said. “We’re so proud of this film, even if it’s the only one we ever get to do — it has been bigger and has already had so much more impact than we ever could have imagined.”