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“It is a bit of myth-making, but with a real foundation and real truth that hopefully makes it a little more universal,” Kijak said. But the blighted suburban ennui, so familiar to Gen-Xers and early millennials, is nowhere near specific to Denver. One of the characters, Sandi, hails from Arvada, and stray neighborhood references litter the dialogue. Other locations lost their specific Denver monikers, too, although the film is still set here. Muddy’s transformed, again, into The Ritz - a nod to The Smiths’ first venue in Manchester, and one of many Easter eggs in the movie. We found these very specific kind of places, but had to change the names.” All we needed at most spots was a poster, a few busted couches, old books and a brick wall. “I worked at a record store like Wax Trax in high school, and we found a good spiritual cousin for it. “Parts of upstate New York are in a total time warp,” Kijak said. Historical research of 1980s Denver led him to stand-in cities in upstate New York, such as Albany, Troy, Niskayuna and Colonie, according to The Albany Times Union. But with 30% of the film’s $3 million budget devoted to music - “Shoplifters” features a whopping 20 Smiths songs, many of which have never been licensed for the screen - Kijak wasn’t able to film on location. The animating event, The Smiths breakup, happened a year before the Colorado incident, so the story was moved to 1987. The bar where the four friends hung out became Muddy’s Java Café, formerly at 2200 Champa St., and a third-act, after-hours gay club became The Grove. The record store where hostage-taker Dean worked became Wax Trax Records, a punk and indie haven that’s still open at 638 E. With this in mind, Kijak filtered the awkward kisses, chain-smoking profanity and harsh realizations of his evolving characters through Denver native Hall. On Twitter, my colleague Matt Sebastian also pointed out that, at the time, Morrissey had taken out an ad in the Rocky Mountains News trying to get a band started. Just as bizarre, in hindsight, is that despite spending most of his time in Manchester, England, Morrissey visited Arvada for seven-week stretches throughout 1979 as his sister, Mary, lived there, according to the singer’s autobiography.
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It was only in a 2013 “Smithsbusters” story and subsequent series in Denver’s Westword that the truth regained its ground (some, anyway). As the legend grew in and outside of Colorado, it eventually made its way to English singer-songwriter and The Smiths frontman Morrissey, who was predictably offended it hadn’t become a global news event. The truth, however, was less appealing than the myth. He was arrested in the parking lot before anything happened, The Denver Post reported at the time. His goal was to force the DJ to play nothing but The Smiths cassettes and albums he had in his car. In reality, it began in 1988, when a Denver teen plotted for months to (but didn’t actually) take over a Denver-area Top 40 station at gunpoint. The lore seemed too good, too movie-perfect, to be true.
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Denver-set movie “Shoplifters of the World” based on real-life Morrissey, The Smiths lore – The Denver Post Close Menu