Film Crew Sets Up Shop At East Boothbay B&B

Film Crew Sets Up Shop At East Boothbay B&B By Kevin Burnham Reprinted with permission of the Boothbay Register

First published in the Boothbay Register September 23, 1999

During the summer months, resort communities, including the Boothbay region, get "all kinds" of visitors. So when Larry Brown, owner of Linekin Bay Bed and Breakfast and a former policeman, received a telephone call from a man inquiring about using his establishment to shoot some scenes for a low-budget movie, Brown was a bit suspicious. "I didn't know what to think at first, so I did some checking around and everything worked out," said Brown. On Friday, September 10, Brown welcomed the German-American film crew which has been filming the movie, "Lonesome," in communities along the coast of Maine for the past few weeks. Brown's B & B was the film crew's second choice for the particular scene in the movie, which is about an 17-year-old girl who has a fight with her parents and befriends a truck driver/country singer who owns a home in Maine. Originally, the Cod Cove Inn in Edgecomb was picked for the scene shot in East Boothbay but a wedding was scheduled on the day set aside for the filming. The independent film, which is expected to be finished by Christmas and offered to distributors at next spring's film festivals, is expected to appear in small theaters such as the Eveningstar Cinema in Brunswick or the Railroad Square Cinema in Waterville, according to the film's producer Patrick Allen. The film crew, which will be in Maine until September 27, has been based at Camp Wavus on Damariscotta Lake. Filming has been done in Woolwich at the Montsweag Flea Market, at the Blistered Fingers Blue Grass Festival in Sidney, the Union Fair, Wal-Mart in Augusta and High Island and Tenants Harbor. Allen said the crew will also film at Reunion Station in Damariscotta before finishing the filming in New York in early October. The film's director is Elke Rosthal, a German-born film student who graduated from New York University where she met producer Patrick Allen. She wrote the story for the film and it's the first feature film for both Allen and Rosthal, who worked on short films from 1983 to 1991. "We have a great cast and crew," said Rosthal, who gave this newspaper an interview while the crew set up cameras, lights and other equipment. "Lilly, the girl in the movie, is played by 18-year-old Aleksa Palladino, who starred in Woody Allen's film, "Celebrity," and in the award-winning independent film "Manny and Lowe." Her father, played by Brian Delate, played Truman's father in "The Truman Story" with Jim Carrey and also appeared in "The Shawshank Redemption" and "Reversal of Fortune.'' Rosthal said the scene shot at the B&B would be a conversation between Lilly and her mother, played by French actress and model, Marisa Berenson. Berenson, who hasn't done an American film in 12 years, starred in "Cabaret," "Barry Lyndon," and Clint Eastwood's "White Thunder." Rosthal said Berenson is donating her time and talent for two of the five weeks of filming. "She enjoys doing independent films, which she calls, "the gourmet cooking of film-making"", said Rosthal. The other male lead, Tom, the truck-driving country singer, is played by John Pyper-Ferguson, whose credits Include television appearances on "X-Files,'' ''Millennium," and the new Fox network program, ''Harsh Realm.'' (Photo to the Left) ACTOR JOHN PYPER-FERGUSON, who plays the male lead, Tom, in the movie, acts out a scene filmed in Woolwich. (Susan Gray Photo) Despite last Friday's rainy weather, the film crew began setting up around noon and were finished around 6 p.m., said Brown. "They didn't disrupt us much at all," said Brown. "One couple staying with us even asked to be extras in the film. You would hardly have know they were here. They came, cleaned up and left.'' (Above) THE FILM CREW sets up equipment on the porch at Linekin Bay B&B in East Boothbay, just outside a bedroom where a scene for the film, Lonesome, was shot on Friday, September 10. Owner Larry Brown said the crew was very careful not to disrupt the guests or damage the building and grounds. (Kevin Burnham Photo)