Not long after Stark Howell attended his first Mayberry tribute festival, he assigned himself a tall order. He began writing a feature film that would capture the modern-day spirit of “The Andy Griffith Show” fandom without mirroring the iconic 1960s series.
Howell, who is connected to the show’s legacy through his actor father, Hoke Howell, had to walk a fine line. The movie would be for an audience that reveres the comedic art of the original actors enough to know their work is impossible to replicate. It also would need to fit into the world of Mayberry festivals, where tribute artists play deputy Barney Fife, barber Floyd Lawson and their compatriots — an atmosphere that can bowl over the uninitiated.
The result is “Mayberry Man,” much of which was filmed in Central Indiana and Danville, thanks to its annual Mayberry in the Midwest festival. The feature-length movie centers on Chris Stone, who’s an insufferable movie star and the fictional son of a guest actor on “The Andy Griffith Show.” After he’s caught speeding, Stone, who is played by Brett Varvel, is sentenced to represent his father at the fictional Mayberry Fest in Mayberry, N.C., an experience that initially mortifies him.
Just more than a year after filming began, the movie is rolling out in Indiana theaters and will be at the Heartland International Film Festival next month. It also will be available on DVD and to rent or buy from Amazon Video. Updates about where to watch are continually posted at mayberryman.com.
With “Andy Griffith”-style imagery, the movie is, as Howell puts it, “almost a period piece without being a period piece” that places the hard-hearted Stone in the midst of endearing and annoying characters who challenge him to re-examine his life. The cast of tribute artists, Southern residents and even Los Angeles dwellers celebrates the 21st-century Mayberry that’s rooted in the festival world of pie-eating contests, goofy impressions and generosity, while nodding to the original series.
“So many people have been around that show that it’s within everybody’s consciousness, I think, and it comes out in different ways,” said Chris Hudson, who made “The Mayberry Effect” documentary about the show’s lasting super-fandom. “‘Mayberry Man’ was one way for it to come out for Stark.”
Unlike Stone, Howell hasn’t starred in Hollywood blockbusters with titles like “Shingletown” and “Death Figure 8.” But the writer shares something in common with his main character: He, too, felt out of place when he attended his first round of Mayberry festivals in 2018.
At the urging of Howell’s friend Gregory Schell, whose father Ronnie Schell appeared in “Andy Griffith” and starred as Duke Slater in “Gomer Pyle: USMC,” Howell signed autographs for his father, the character actor who played PFC Dudley A. “Dud” Wash on two episodes of the former.
“I thought it was a crazy idea, but he convinced me,” Howell said.
Howell had grown up friends with Ron Howard, who played Opie Taylor, and his brother Clint Howard, who made appearances as the tiny cowboy Leon. The boys’ fathers were writing partners. But to Howell, all of that just felt like regular life, separate from the star-studded “Andy Griffith Show.” He started watching it in about 1966 when he was 8 to see his friends and to satiate his inner entertainment junkie who devoured “TV Guide” the way others did “Reader’s Digest.
