Oklahoma actors, musicians, towns featured in family film “Cowgirls N' Angels”

Oklahoma turned out to be just the right place for the coming-of-age rodeo drama “Cowgirls N' Angels,” which filmed last year in Stillwater, Guthrie, Oklahoma City and Pawnee, and opens Friday in state and regional cinemas.

The debut feature from director Timothy Armstrong, who co-wrote the script with “The Omega Code” scribe Stephan Blinn, “Cowgirls N' Angels” tells the tale of young Ida Clayton (Bailee Madison, “Just Go With It”), a feisty small-town Oklahoma girl who longs to know her father, a rodeo rider she's never met. While searching for her dad at the local arena, she connects with the Sweethearts of the Rodeo, a female trick riding team led by rodeo legend Terence Parker (Oscar nominee James Cromwell, “Babe”).

Several state musicians, actors and other contributors to the film gathered for the Oklahoma City premiere Sunday at Tinseltown. The screening was presented by local radio station KOMA-FM 92.5, which was appropriate since the station's program director and morning show co-host Kent Jones has a small role as a doctor.

“Ever since I was a kid I loved movies and I wanted to be an actor,” Jones said. “I was an actor in community theater, in school productions, but I wanted to be in movies. That was always my childhood dream. I went into radio as a way to perform, have fun and have a steady job. But the film bug had never left me.”

The production used a 35 percent Oklahoma Film Enhancement Rebate, administered by the state, according to the Oklahoma Film and Music Office. It also was eligible to receive an additional 2 percent offered by the state for including music in the film created by Oklahomans.

Singer/songwriter/pianist Maggie McClure, who hails from Norman, doesn't appear on-screen during the film, but her uplifting anthem “Good Morning and Good Night” plays in almost its entirety with the opening credits of “Cowgirls N' Angels.”

“I'm just thrilled that they were even interested in using my music because ... a lot of the music in the movie was country. And my music is not country, so I feel really lucky to be in the movie,” said McClure, who recently relocated to Los Angeles with her musician-husband Shane Henry.