Film crews were parked along Tremont Place and 17th Street, and camera equipment littered the lobby. All any of the doormen and hostesses (the eyes and ears of any hotel, of course) knew was that a Netflix movie was being filmed at the hotel this morning.
Ours Souls at Night has been filming in Colorado for more than a month, and the book features a scene at the Palace. Two plus two equals Redford!
In the film, Redford plays widower Louis Waters, who's approached by Addie Moore (Jane Fonda) with an unusual proposition: She wants him to spend the night with her so she has someone to talk to. As their relationship progresses, Haruf writes:
And once they stayed overnight in Denver as she had before at the great old beautiful Brown Palace Hotel with its open court and lobby and the piano player who played all afternoon and evening. Their room was on the third floor and they could look over the railing down to the open courtyard below and see the piano player and people sitting at tables taking tea and drinking cocktails and the waiters moving back and forth from the bar and as the night approached the guests going into the bar or into the restaurant with its white tablecloths and gleaming glasses and silverwear. They went down and ate in the restaurant and then came back upstairs and Addie put on one of the expensive dresses she'd bought just to wear in Denver.From there, they head to the Denver Performing Arts Complex; earlier in the book, they'd discussed how the Denver Center for the Performing Arts had put on a play about two ranchers (based on another book by Haruf). After the play, they return to the Brown Palace Bar for a drink, then go upstairs.
I'm about as happy as I can be, she said. This is just what I want and tomorrow I want our own bed again.
Everything in its time and place, he said.
Now are you going to kiss me in this big hotel bed or not?
I was hoping to.
The next morning, Louis gives the valet a big tip and they drive home to Holt...or Florence, where most of the filming is being done.
