This Overlooked Kentucky Drama Assembled a Cast of Five Oscar Winners

Kentucky has been a hotbed for filmmakers over the last three years. In this space, I've written quite a bit about projects involving Ethan Hawke, Orlando Bloom, and Al Pacino. A gem of a tax break called the Kentucky Entertainment Incentive is behind the increase in traffic.

Making Movies in Kentucky

I began noticing the uptick in 2022 with the Bloom film, Red Right Hand, which co-stars Andie MacDowell. That production's profile increased dramatically with the presence of pop superstar Katy Perry, Bloom's then-significant other.

Soon, Hawke was in Louisville and Shelbyville scouting locations for his period biopic about writer Flannery O'Connor.

Oscar winner Pacino stars alongside Bill Skarsgard and Colman Domingo in the true crime thriller Dead Man's Wire. Filmed in Louisville, it will go into wide release on January 16th, 2025.

Kentucky Family Drama About Alzheimer's

2021's Not to Forget tells the story of a young man who heads to Kentucky to take care of his grandmother, who has Alzheimer's disease.  Being a con artist, his discovery of the extent of her wealth leads to a crisis of conscience.

The film's star is a relative newcomer, Tate Dewey. But you'll probably recognize the actress who plays his grandmother--Karen Grassle, who played the mom in the classic 1970s drama Little House on the Prairie.

Five Oscar Winners in One Kentucky Movie

But it's the supporting cast of Not to Forget that is especially noteworthy as there are no less than five Oscar winners in various roles--George Chakiris (Oscar winner for 1961's West Side Story); Cloris Leachman (Oscar winner for 1971's The Last Picture Show); Tatum O'Neal (Oscar winner for 1973's Paper Moon); Louis Gossett Jr. (Oscar winner for 1982's An Officer and a Gentleman); and Olympia Dukakis (Oscar winner for 1987's Moonstruck).

Sadly, this was the last film for Olympia Dukakis and Cloris Leachman, both of whom died in 2021. Gossett passed away in 2024.

Not to Forget streams for free on Tubi and The Roku Channel. It's also available to Amazon Prime Video subscribers.