MARSHALLTOWN, Iowa– While Joseph Kosinski is known as the filmmaker behind critically acclaimed films in Hollywood, his own story officially began in Marshalltown.

Before the red carpets and big screens, Kosinski got his start at the Marshalltown Performing Arts Center, where he played the saxophone in Marshalltown High School’s Bobcat Band from 1988 to 1992.

“He was an excellent saxophonist,” said Marshalltown resident, Betsy Mackee. “His mother is a very talented pianist and I think that’s where he gets his love of music from.”

Mackee met Kosinski’s mother, Patricia, in Iowa City. The two friends both moved to Marshalltown in 1979 where they raised their families. Both had four kids each, all around the same ages.

“When we moved here, they were the only family I knew and I was the only family they knew,” Mackee said. “So we got together a bunch, and the kids would play.”

Mackee remembers watching Kosinski play the saxophone on stage at the Marshalltown Performing Arts Center. Now, the auditorium walls remember him.

His name is presented on a couple of plaques highlighting outstanding members of the Bobcat Band. His name can also be found under the Honorary Fine Arts Wall where all-state band, chorus, orchestra, and theater students are listed.

But, to Marshalltown, he’s not “Joseph.”

“I wouldn’t have ever called him Joseph, unless he was in trouble. And he was never in trouble in school,” said Nancy Boone, Kosinski’s sixth grade teacher who was also the mother of one of Kosinski’s childhood friends, Scott.

Scott remembered Kosinski’s spark before the spotlight.

“It’s no surprise that he’s become this,” he said. “He’s always been very intelligent and very willing.”

He also says the spotlight also never changed Kosinski, except his name.

“He came back a few years ago and me and some others gathered with him at a home here in town and it was like talking to the same kid,” said Scott. “We all call him ‘Joey’ because that’s how he was referred to as growing up and some of his entourage that came with him from Hollywood to Marshalltown that year were laughing that we were calling him ‘Joey’ rather than ‘Joseph.’”

Kosinski made his directorial debut in Hollywood with Tron: Legacy in 2010, followed by Oblivion in 2013.

The filmmaker seems to have a knack for sequels because he’s also directed Top Gun: Maverick in 2022 and was a writer for Twisters (2024).

Mackee is collecting some of Kosinski’s movie posters to hang inside the Marshalltown Performing Arts Center to honor Kosinski’s legacy. So far, she has posters for Tron: Legacy, Only the Brave, and Twisters. But Kosinski also honors Marshalltown in his own work.

“In Top Gun: Maverick, we love the nod he gave to Marshalltown when he showed the Cecil sign because Cecil’s was a favorite breakfast hangout and his dad used to take him to Cecil’s for breakfast all the time,” said Mackee.

Mackee is organizing a celebration later this year to honor 40 years of the Marshalltown Performing Arts Center. Kosinski is tentatively scheduled to attend the celebration on November 15th.