Action! Movie crew films at The Rink at Pine Creek, Dixon and Oregon

OREGON – If you’ve noticed an orange compact car with a broken right headlight and Texas plates buzzing around Oregon and Dixon, don’t worry – it’s just Dahlia, part of a new road-trip movie being filmed in the area.

“Be Right Back” is an independent, feature-length movie about two sisters who drive Dahlia across the country to Evanston to check out their sister’s boyfriend, who she met in the early days of the internet.

“It is about two sisters who go on a road trip to see the boyfriend,” Director Kate Cobb said Monday.

For the past couple of weeks, the crew has been filming scenes for the comedy in Ogle and Lee counties.

“We’ve shot in Dixon, Oregon and Grand Detour,” Cobb said. “This is day 15 out of 20 days.”

On Monday, Cobb and her production crew were shooting at The Rink at Pine Creek, 6929 W. Pines Road, Mt. Morris, located between Oregon and Polo just west of White Pines State Park.

The iconic rink with the unique terrazzo skate floor – formally known as White Pines Roller Palace and later White Pines Skating Rink – opened in 1948 after being built by Clyde Wishard of Mt. Morris. It is now owned and operated by Rebecca Jones of Oregon and offers roller skating and party rentals.

At midday, Cobb was instructing three actors as they filmed a scene at one of the Rink’s booths before getting up to roller skate as extras skated around the floor.

The crew was headed to Oregon on Tuesday to film more scenes at the Patchwork Inn. Cobb said scenes also were shot at Jay’s Drive In in Oregon and in Dixon and Grand Detour.

Michael Waller and Sydney Blackburn wrote the screenplay for the movie and were on-site Monday at The Rink.

“It’s not a true story,” Blackburn said. “It’s about two sisters getting to know each other better.”

Cobb said area residents have welcomed the actors and 35-member crew.

“Everyone has been so sweet and kind,” Cobb said.

Cobb said the independent film is being funded through Chicago Media Angels, an investment group that seeks returns by financing content in the media and entertainment industries and links investors with independent filmmakers.

Several independent films and an HBO series have used the Oregon area for some scenes during the past few years. In 2018, “Lovecraft Country,” a horror drama set in the 1950s, shot scenes at White Pines State Park and on rural roads around Polo and Oregon.

Three other independent film projects also have shot scenes in the area: “Adult Children” in 2023, “The Blacklight” and “Lacy’s Christmas Do-Over.”

Cobb is no stranger to the area. She directed the feature-length independent film “Okie” in and around DeKalb in 2021.

That 82-minute film features a character named Louie Mulgrin, who leaves his rural Illinois town to become a bestselling novelist. When he returns after his father’s death, he encounters admiration and resentment for the stories he has written.

“‘Okie’ is an absorbing and complex dramatic thriller about the delicate balance between ambition and loyalty,” one of the film’s reviewers wrote.

Cobb and her husband, Kevin Bigley, who also is an actor, founded In The Rye Productions.

“Okie” can be pre-ordered on Apple TV and iTunes, and it comes out Nov. 8 at tv.apple.com/us/movie/okie/umc.cmc.1jngvuw9wy3lofy3ogjpuui2r.