RICHMOND, Ind. (WTHR) — It may seem hard to believe but Richmond is the focus of a new Netflix film.
The movie "All the Bright Places" premiered today, and it's based on author Jennifer Niven's high school years in Richmond.
The movie is about two high school students who save each other and find young love while attending Bartlett High School. The movie was actually shot in Cleveland and Cincinnati, Ohio because of better tax incentives but it still has some scenes from the city where she grew up.
Hoosier Hill, which stands at 1,257 feet is still the highest point in Wayne County and the entire state of Indiana, play a big part.
"The two stars come here. They fall in love," Jim Resh, the logistics coordinator for the Richmond Convention and Tourism Bureau. "They stand on this rock and they jump off the mountain. Well this really isn't a mountain. It's a stone. So they could stand and jump off the stone then they visit all the bright places in Indiana."
The Richmond High School Bell tower plays a big part in the book, but the meeting scene in the movie is actually at Main Street Bridge.
Katherine Freeman is now a sophomore at the very same high school Niven attended.
"When I was reading the book I would imagine the characters sitting at my lunch table. I can imagine all the places easily instead of making them up," she said.
She actually communicated with Niven prior to the movie release.
"I texted her a couple of times and told her I got my friend to read the book, so we could watch the movie together when it came out and we kind of texted on and off a couple of times," she said.
Freeman said she'll likely watch the movie tonight.
Niven graduated from Richmond High in 1986. All the Bright Places is her 10th novel. She has come home to Richmond on numerous occasions.
"She lives in Georgia now but spends most of her time in LA, too, or when she visits Indiana which is what we like," Resh said
They actually sell Niven's books at the Welcome Center in Richmond.
Fifteen-year-old Freeman is certainly anxious to see the movie, but she also sees Niven as an inspiration.
"I am working on a book of my own. When I met her I brought my edited book with me to show her and she was so interested in it," she said.
But tonight it's all about "All the Bright Places" on Netflix.