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Watch the trailer for the Jacksonville filmmaker’s serial killer film

Watch the trailer for the Jacksonville filmmaker’s serial killer film

The first official trailer for “The Man in the White Van,” a suspense thriller with a clear connection to Jacksonville, was released this week, about two months before the film hits theaters.

The film, from Jacksonville director Warren Skeels, is scheduled to hit theaters nationwide on December 13th – Friday the 13th – from Relativity Media.

“It has all the makings of a hit,” said Lawrence Najem, a Jacksonville attorney who serves as the film’s executive producer. He expects a streaming deal to be negotiated once the film is in theaters.

Set in the 1970s, the story follows a teenage girl (Madison Wolfe, who could become a star) living in Brooksville, north of Tampa, who is threatened by a man in a white van, even though she initially only a few believe claims. Sean Astin (“Lord of the Rings,” “Stranger Things,” “Goonies” and “Rudy”) and Ali Larter from “Varsity Blues” and “Heroes” play her parents.

Skeels said he wanted to make a thriller rather than a slasher film, although “The Man in the White Van” does have horror elements. He cites “Halloween,” “Jaws” and “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” as inspirations for his film.

“The aim was to make an exciting thriller that presents an authentic version of events and comes as close as possible to the true crime story. “I think we did it,” Skeels said. “The audience that saw the film was very receptive and engaged and asked a lot of questions afterwards, particularly about the true-crime nature of the film.”

It is inspired by the true story of Hernando County, Florida serial killer Billy Mansfield Jr., now in his mid-60s. He was convicted of five murders, four of them in Florida, and is serving a life sentence in California for a murder there.

Skeels, executive producer of the hit MTV reality show “Siesta Key,” lives in Jacksonville. He began researching Mansfield and then reached out to Jacksonville screenwriter Sharon Cobb, who collaborated with him on the script.

Other locals are involved in the film, including Jacksonville native and Flagler University graduate Gareth Cox, who worked with Skeels on “Siesta Key.” He is the cinematographer of the film. Meanwhile, Jacksonville native Scott Borland created the spooky score.

Skeels and Cobb said as they dug deeper into Mansfield’s story, they noticed some troubling developments.

“The more investigation we did, the scarier it became. I’m not kidding,” Cobb said. “We found many other cases that we thought were certainly related to him.”

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In fact, Cobb and Skeels saw Mansfield’s methods in a long-unsolved murder of an Ohio teenager kidnapped from Daytona Beach in 1980. Her body was found the next day off Interstate 95 in Jacksonville on Pecan Park Road. Those suspicions were confirmed this year after the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office announced that Mansfield had confessed to killing teenager Carol Ann Barrett, who was 18 at the time of her death.

More murders could be confirmed later, the scriptwriters say. “It is an ongoing case. “They are still working on several cold cases in both Florida and California,” Skeels said.

Although The Man in the White Van is set in Florida, the film was shot in Louisiana. It made no financial sense to shoot the film in Florida, which has long lacked the incentives offered by other states to entice filmmakers to come. This is a source of frustration for Skeels and Najem.

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Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan’s administration recently committed just over half a million dollars to attract film and television projects to the city. But the lack of government support has crippled production teams, Najem said: “It’s a shame, people had to get up and leave Florida to find work.”

“The Man in the White Van” debuted in July at Comic-Con, the influential entertainment convention in San Diego. Promotions included poster unveiling, trailer release, interviews and a question-and-answer session with Skeels and actors.

It was a multi-year odyssey to bring the film to the public. “It’s very gratifying,” Cobb said. “We’ve been through the strike, all the different strikes and COVID, all these setbacks, and here it is. Now it’s here.”