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PARK CITY — A Utah man received a surprising phone call from an Academy Award-winning actor that resulted in his pancakes being featured in a movie.
Park City-based company, Kodiak Cakes, was founded in 1995 by Joel and John Clark. Joel Clark said the flapjack and waffle mix was based on an old family recipe, and as an 8-year-old boy, he peddled brown paper sacks of the mix around the neighborhood. The whole-wheat pancake mix was originally sold only in gift shops of ski towns, but now is available in grocery stores nationwide.
Clark said Kodiak Cakes was featured on a Shark Tank episode that aired in April, but they filmed the episode in June 2013. He said they had just finished filming when several days later he got a phone call from Kevin Costner’s daughter, Annie Costner.
“I told my wife, ‘It’s rare to have a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and I just had two in a week,” Clark said.
He said Annie Costner told him her father, Kevin Costner, wanted to talk to him about his pancakes. Clark said he couldn’t figure out if the phone call was legitimate or not, but he decided to wait and see what happened. Later, as he was driving with his family to Salt Lake City, Kevin Costner called him.
“He’s like, ‘I eat them every day,’ ” Clark said of his conversation with Kevin Costner. “He’s like, ‘I love your pancakes. I’m a fan.’ He kept telling me that. ‘I’m a fan.’ And I’m like, ‘I’m a fan.’ ”
Clark said Kevin Costner asked him if he could feature the pancakes in his newest movie, “Black and White.” Clark said he was thrilled and asked if he and his co-worker, Cameron Smith, could attend the filming of the movie and go on the set. They went to New Orleans in October 2013, and Clark said he and Smith cooked pancakes for the entire filming crew. He even got to sit in the director’s chair.
“They filmed this one scene probably like eight times, and after, (Kevin Costner) comes out,” Clark said. “I was kind of staring at this monitor and he kind of startled me and asked, ‘What’d you think?’ He was just really fun to talk to. A lot of fun to be around. Just a way, way fun experience.”
“Black and White” premiered at the Toronto Film Festival on Sept. 6. Clark said Kodiak Cakes pancakes were featured in three different scenes of the film.
