From Staff Reports 

The satirical action-comedy film “Masterminds,” which was shot in Western North Carolina, finally opened Sept. 30 at cinemas nationally.

The movie was filmed in July and August 2014 in WNC, including downtown Asheville and in Waynesville’s Plott Creek area

The big-budget film stars Zach Galifianakis (“The Hangover” franchise), Kristen Wiig (“Saturday Night Live” and “Bridesmaids”), Owen Wilson (“Midnight in Paris” and “Zoolander”) and Jason Sudeikis (“Saturday Night Live” and “Horrible Bosses”).

Galifianakis claims WNC as his home, as he was born in Wilkesboro in 1969. He spends his spare time at his 60-acre farm in the North Carolina mountains, where he hopes to open a writer’s retreat on a completely self-sustained farm.

The cast also includes Devis Ratray, Kate McKinnon, Mary Elizabeth Ellis, Ken Marino, Leslie Jones, Jon Daly and Ross Kimball.

The film, rated PG-13, was directed by Jared Hess and produced by Relativity Media.

Based on a true story, “Masterminds” follows the riotous misadventures of unlikely anit-hero David Ghantt (Galifianakis), as he pulls off — at that time — the largest cash robbery in U.S. history in Charlotte in 1997.

The trouble begins when David, a trusted armored-truck driver for Loomis Fargo, falls for beautiful guard Kelly Campbell (Wiig).

After she quits her job, Kelly, egged on by local petty thief Steve Chambers (Wilson), persuades David to clean out the company’s vault in Charlotte.

After stuffing a van with more than $17 million of stolen cash, David delivers to money to Chambers’ gang, and flees to Mexico to lie low while the FBI searches for the culprits.

Steve and his wife Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Ellis) buy a mansion with their ill-gotten wealth and dispatch overzealous hit man Mike McKinney (Jason Sudeikis) to Mexico to kill David. Once David discovers the betrayal, he returns to North Carolina on a mission to rescue his true love and expose Steve to the heist’s real “mastermind.”