ANYONE WHO ATTENDED Indiana University during the late 1980s is likely to harbor fond memories of Little 500 weekends—if they can remember them at all. Capitalizing on the nostalgic era of spiral perms, NCAA basketball championships, and penny beers, Pigasus Pictures is filming Little Five on location in Bloomington now through mid-August. Rain Spencer (The Summer I Turned Pretty) and Ariana Greenblatt (Barbie) star as IU students and competitors in the first women’s cycling event held in 1988.
With Indiana-themed efforts like So Cold the River, The Duel, and The Good Catholic already under its belt, the Bloomington-based production company led by IU graduates Zachary Spicer and Gordon Strain is establishing a solid space for itself within the pantheon of Hoosier film. Teaming up with Anne Hathaway’s Somewhere Pictures certainly doesn’t hurt. Spicer met the actress when he served on her security detail during a New York Shakespeare in the Park production years ago. When he and Strain started developing the script for Little Five, they sent it to her.
“She said, ‘These are the kinds of stories I want to help tell,'” Strain says. “I hope this is a story that feels good to everybody, but also one that women can relate to in a way that they might not with Hoosiers, Breaking Away, or Rudy.”
Speaking of the inevitable comparisons …
“Obviously those movies are a rich Indiana tradition,” Strain continues. “We’re breaking the mold in that this is a female-driven sports movie.”
“Women’s sports are where it’s at, and Bloomington has a really great women’s sports scene,” Mayor Kerry Thomson agrees. “We’re delighted to have the film here. My hope is that the movie portrays the authentic spirit of Bloomington. We’re an inclusive community that gets together not only around sports, but around arts, culture, and just the thrill of life in our college town.”
By tapping the local community of current college students and recent grads to fill out the crowd scenes as unpaid extras, Pigasus aims to give a whole new generation its own bragging rights.
“We meet so many people who tell us they were extras in other films made here,” Strain says. “Twenty years from now, these people can say to their kids or grandkids, ‘Oh, I was an extra in Little Five.’”
Hoosier alums will recognize many of the filming locations, from Bill Armstrong Stadium and Assembly Hall to Grant Street and the downtown Bloomington courthouse square. If all goes according to plan, Pigasus is aiming for a fall 2027 release and a premiere at the IU Auditorium.
“IU has been a very generous partner with locations, time, and security, and the city of Bloomington has definitely come to our aid,” Strain says. “IU is out in the world these days because of the football championship, but if we can find another way to highlight the city and let people know how wonderful and beautiful it is, that’s our goal.”
Want to play a supporting role? Pigasus is still accepting applications for extras through August 1. Bonus points if you’re willing to sport an ’80s-style haircut or you own a period car that still runs.
