Courtesy Photo A poster for the upcoming film “Harsens Island Revenge” is seen in this image provided by the director. The crew will begin filming in Alpena on Sept. 16.

ALPENA — Lansing-based film company Collective Development Inc. plans to shoot a Prohibition-era drama in the Thunder Bay area later this fall.

The film, “Harsens Island Revenge,” is an adaptation of a book of the same title by Karl Manke.

The story follows World War I veterans who had their own Canadian whiskey smuggling operation on Harsens Island, an island close to Detroit. The Purple Gang, a feared Detroit bootlegging crew infamous for dangerous and unpredictable behavior, cornered the illegal markets in the city and heard that whiskey was coming onto the island without their control, leading to a fight between the veterans and gang members.

DJ Perry, CEO of Collective Development and actor, producer, and screenwriter of the film, said the movie is a tale of those who seek shortcuts in life and how they suffer the consequences of their actions.

“Michigan played a huge part in the Prohibition,” Perry said. “Detroit was so close to the Canadian border, so it was easy to smuggle whiskey and other liquor to the other side. These veterans coming out of World War I, they came back with shellshock and the city was not good for them.

“Those that lived in Detroit went to Harsens Island,” Perry continued, “which was close to the city, and they could find peace. These vets realized they could get a few extra dollars smuggling liquor to places there, especially since police weren’t investigating the island. The Purple Gang didn’t like there was whiskey coming in that they weren’t controlling, so they tried killing them.”

Perry said a person in the production company had family in Alpena and told producers that the area was a great location to shoot the film.

After the producers scouted Alpena, Presque Isle, and Posen, they liked the idea of shooting here. They waited for the director, Carl Weyant, to go to those locations and approve the location.

After one weekend, Weyant said he loved the place.

“I’m from New York and I just moved to Michigan, around Troy, four years ago,” Weyant said. “I was in Alpena for a weekend and I already made friendships there. It’s a beautiful place with such friendly people. It just had everything for us to shoot the period piece and I’m excited.”

Weyant met Perry in Ooty, India while shooting a film in 2006. Afterward, they worked on each other’s movies.

Perry asked Weyant to direct “Harsens Island Revenge,” which Weyant was honored to do. Weyant said Perry’s keen on who serves in which positions, so this was a big deal for him.

“When I received the script, I realized just how great of a story it was just from the first few pages,” Weyant said. “The environments are rich, and the characters have so much depth to them. It’s a whole other world that we’re creating, and it’s too good of a story to not share with this world.”

Perry and Weyant mentioned their amazement with work the modeling department has done to create the period piece. They mentioned German tanks, World War I airplanes, and more already built in preparation for shooting.

The pre-production team plans to come to Northeast Michigan and set everything up for production around Sept. 9. Film production starts Sept. 16 and finishes on Oct. 6.

“Doing the movie, it’s like being a big kid again,” Weyant said. “We’re imagining these locations in our heads with the cars and planes and how things happen. This time around, it’s actually coming to life. I hope people come out to go and be a part of something that will outlive us all.”