In 1992, Hollywood came to Spokane.
The filming of Benny & Joon brought big-name actors Johnny Depp, Aidan Quinn and Mary Stuart Masterson to town. For casual viewers, Spokane is often overlooked as simply the setting of a quirky story. For those who live there, Spokane is a main character itself.
This year marks 30 years since the release of the film, and Spokane native and Benny & Joon superfan Ashley Graham has organized a celebration spanning July in honor of the anniversary with several local businesses participating in the festivities.
On July 15 and 16, the Garland Theater is showing the film along with a documentary produced by Hamilton Studios (its owner Don Hamilton plays the UPS driver in the movie) in which Graham interviews cast members and others involved in the filming.
"I have loved this movie since I saw it at the Garland Theater when I was 9 years old in 1993," Graham says. "It continues to feel like home to me. I've taken it with me as I've left and moved to two different places. It's magical."
The film introduces viewers to brother-sister duo Benny (Quinn) and Joon (Masterson). Benny works in an automotive shop, and Joon is an artist prone to manic episodes. When they're introduced to Sam (Depp), the Buster Keaton-esque cousin of Benny's friend, their lives are turned upside down. After spending time together, Joon and Sam fall in love, much to Benny's dismay as a protective brother. In the end, the two find solace in each other's company, and Benny welcomes Sam into his life with open arms.
Spokane, of course, is the backdrop for all of it. Featuring a quirky house in Peaceful Valley, an automotive shop in Hillyard, and the recognizable landmarks of Riverfront Park, the movie serves as a time capsule of Spokane in the early '90s.
"In a lot of ways, it still feels like Spokane," Graham says. "I think that [Benny & Joon] is such a working-class, blue-collar movie, but it has so much magic in it. And I think, for me, that's so Spokane, right? Like Spokane is a totally magical place filled with super hardworking people who are just living their lives."
While Graham no longer lives in Spokane, she couldn't sit by idly. She felt like someone had to organize a 30-year celebration of Benny & Joon.
After planting the seeds of some kind of community celebration in the minds of her Spokanite friends last fall, she quickly began reaching out to local institutions in hopes of recovering movie props, scripts or a historical record of the production, but came back empty-handed.
"I had a couple of conversations like that before I realized that I was going to have to be the person who does this," she says. "So, I talked to someone who led me to Don Hamilton. Within an hour, he was down to film interviews with actors that still live in Spokane and make this documentary."
First, they had to find those folks. KXLY ran a short clip asking for people to reach out, and Graham sifted through comments on a Facebook post. Hundreds responded, and Graham was overwhelmed by the number of people with connections to Benny & Joon.
"I think that's when the feeling of how much this matters to Spokane started to unravel," she says.
Along with the two showings of Benny & Joon at the Garland, Graham also partnered with multiple local businesses to spread the movie's magic across the city.
Ferguson's Cafe, where the famous bread roll dancing scene takes place, is running a Benny & Joon special featuring a grilled cheese sandwich (not grilled with a clothing iron, unfortunately), fries and Joon's milkshake (peanut butter and Cap'n Crunch flavor).
Revival Tea Company is serving up Joon's Tapioca Crunch, a boba drink topped with Cap'n Crunch, in honor of Joon's love for tapioca pudding, and Indaba Coffee is selling 12-ounce bags of their new Benny Blend, from which proceeds will go to the Garland Theater.
The Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture is also showcasing various locally sourced props, set decorations and other memorabilia that Graham acquired. Inside the Central Library in downtown Spokane, you can even see the original rolls of bread that Johnny Depp used during the diner scene, which have been preserved with hairspray for 30 years.
One particularly magical component of the monthlong celebration is an art exhibition at Hamilton Studio featuring works by Shannon Noel, an artist who trained Mary Stuart Masterson in painting during Benny & Joon's filming, and created many of the paintings in the film. The show, Joon + 30, envisions what kind of paintings Joon might be creating in 2023.
In one of the first scenes in Benny & Joon, a character asks Benny, "What does it really mean to need someone?"
Just like Joon needed Sam in order to find peace and independence, and how Benny needed Joon to show him what really matters in life, Benny & Joon needed Spokane to tell the tale of a brother and sister and their eccentric, unlikely new friend.
"You know, when you leave Spokane at 18 like a lot of people do?" Graham says. "Seeing the community rally around their shared love for this movie has been so restorative for me. It's made me reconnect with Spokane in a really meaningful way." ♦
Benny & Joon 30th Anniversary • Sat, July 15 at 7:15 pm and Sun, July 16 at 2:15 pm • $10 • Garland Theater • 924 W. Garland Ave. • Event info: linktr.ee/bennyandjoonspokane
