Willow Creek's Dave Hilsgen Remembers Prince

Back in the 80s, veteran Twin Cities film projectionist Dave Hilsgen was one of the few hired to run 35mm dailies during the making of Purple Rain and Under the Cherry Moon. Dailies, in filmmaking, is the raw unedited footage shot during the making of a film. At the end of any given production day, the film was developed, synced to sound and printed for cast and crew to watch. Unlike running a finished motion picture that has been mass produced and printed for theatres across the country, running dailies is its own unique position, as it's the very first time the cast and crew see their footage on a cinema screen. Watching dailies is an essential part of filmmaking.

Flashforward to the 90s, Dave is the head projectionist at Willow Creek 8, located in Plymouth, MN. Under Cineplex Odeon ownership at the time, Willow was the cool, fancy new theatre everybody went to on a Friday night. The prestige so great, the Minnesota premiere of Spielberg's Schindler's List was held at the theatre; with press, red carpet and the whole nine yards. As time went on, Dave found himself in the presence of Prince once again. This time, in a much more intimate setting.

"I ran many private, late-night screenings of new release films for Prince", says Dave. "Ridge Square and Willow Creek were his favorite theatres. I worked at both." Ridge Square -- closed for over a decade, located near the Ridgedale Target -- was a three-plex, capable of running both 35mm and 70mm film.

As if no time has passed, Dave remembers specific films he ran for Prince. He watched "Good Morning Vietnam and Die Hard (in 70mm) at Ridge Square -- he would bring a lot of different guests over. One that I remember in particular is David Bowie and Sheena Easton. If somebody was in town doing a gig he'd bring them out to a show [at Willow Creek or Ridge Square]."

Jurassic Park [at Willow Creek] was another film he had requested a screening of. Dave adds, "He wanted to check out that new DTS sound, and we were one of the few theatres that had it."

If Prince wasn't quite in the mood for a new release, he'd have Dave run screenings of Purple Rain and Under the Cherry Moon. "He owned his own 35mm prints of the films, and I'd have to set them up and tear it down every time. He always liked how much care I took [with his films]. He was the type of person that was very particular on everything, always had to play movies at a certain volume and sometimes I'd have to add more sub or more surrounds."

After a couple private screening at Willow Creek, Prince didn't need to request a volume change from Dave ever again. Why? Because he simply approved of Dave's work. In addition to screenings, Dave helped out on a music video partially shot at Willow Creek. Several rows of theatres seats were removed in auditorium 7 to make way for the film crew and gear.

When asked about any photographic documentation of Prince at Willow or Ridge Square, Dave paused, then said, "I probably could have [taken a photo with him]. He came up into the booth a few times, but I guess... I just respected the guy's privacy."

Prince touched millions of people, and influenced a generation of musicians. He will be deeply, deeply missed. Prince Rogers Nelson, 1958 - 2016