There's a film crew using our church for a wedding scene in an upcoming Christmas movie, (not Hallmark) which is good for the coffers of the church since
The movie, while being filmed in Ontario, Canada is stand in for Georgia, US of A. Because of the requirements of the pandemic Canadian quarantine laws, there are no American actors being used, it's all Canadian actors & mostly from Ontario.
But then the big ask came, which was not within the church's power to grant; could they take down the Canadian, British & Ontario flags to put up the stars & stripes ... our flags are on poles that surround our cenotaph to honour those that fought & died in WWI, WWII, which technically is not on church property although it fronts the church. The mayor (who if you remember from last week's post is under criticism for the art installation on the trail) said an absolute NO. Cheers from the community for the mayor. So not sure how that's going to be handled in the movie.
But I think the best news from all this excitement of movie making, is that they cleaned before filming & will clean after filming. I don't think our little church has ever been so sanitized & scrubbed! Oh & I really hope that we can keep this fabulous Nativity.
Our little village & our large beautiful conservation park has been used in films before along with music videos & lots of commercials. A few of the films have been Agnes of God, Cheaper By The Dozen 1 & 2 (remake); Camp Rock 2; The Border; Virus; History of Violence; TV series: Reign; Murdoch Mysteries; The Jonas Brothers music video.
We have a lot of filming in our bit of West London and it's always interesting to see what changes. Our local university campus turned into a high school a few years ago.
ReplyDeleteIt is rather exciting to watch as filming happens, then see the movie & know that you know exactly where that scene is. When the Jonas Brothers filmed their video - it was chaos. Before my time, but when Jane Fonda was here filming, she lead fitness classes.
DeleteHow exciting! Do some of the residents in your village get to participate as extras and so forth?
ReplyDeleteThere's no need for extras & most of the filming is done indoors. I've been trying to think of a really good reason that I just have to go to the church ...
DeleteYou seem to live in a very popular little town. Must have loads of rustic charm!
ReplyDeleteIt's mostly because of the conservation area water, cliffs & beach; several of our churches are really old, but ours is the biggest. I think rust is a good description for the village at times! (col)
DeleteHow exciting! And the church looks beautiful. Genuinely intrigued to understand the vehemence of the reaction to the flag request. I know that N America culturally holds a reverence for flags that we don't in the same way here, but was there something more to it? Eg. Was it felt that it wouldn't be done respectfully by the film company, or that the war memorial should just not feature in the film at all? The USA was on the same side, after all. Anyway I'm sure they will get round the problem using CGI. I think the pews, sign change etc is entirely normal in such circumstances and when they've finished you'll never know the difference.
ReplyDeleteIt is a beautiful church inside & out, very typical old Anglican. We'll talk more about the flags :)
DeleteI've been trying to figure out the name of your village from your descriptions: conservation area, water, cliffs, beach... Still working on it :) -Jenn
ReplyDeleteHa Ha ... your sister will know. AND we are nearing the size soon to be a "town". We've gone from Police Village, to Village & now teetering on "town". Me, I would rather stay as a village & let the expansions happen not in our back yard.
DeleteHow interesting - it certainly looks a very picturesque location, I can see why they chose it. I'm pleased your mayor declined their request to change the flags, I am sure they can photoshop a different flag in post-filming!
ReplyDeleteIn the end they are filming at different angles. We have a lot of veterans in the village & I think it would be a slap to them to take down the flags that those that gave their life fought under.
DeleteIt must be good to have a bit of excitement in these dull times. I don’t think removing pews and choir stalls would go down to well over here. Most churches are listed. Even if it was all put back afterwards. The flags are a dilemma. A bit of clever filming needed there!
ReplyDeleteIt’s always interesting seeing places you know on tv and films but can be very disorienting when they change things so much.
Our church building is about 100 years old which is young compared to Britain's buildings & churches, but then our village is only about 150 years old :) Being that the filming company is not a big company, it may be hard for us to see the final product on TV.
DeleteYour church does exude charm, no wonder they keep coming back to have it on film.
ReplyDeleteIt is about 100 years old & when we had the extension built we had a really difficult time finding an architect that appreciated it's charm & meaning to the village, most people don't even notice that the addition is fairly new - 15 years.
DeleteWhat a beautiful church! No wonder they wanted to use it. And good for the mayor---I'm quite sure they can digitally put the American flag where they want it. If and when you find out what the movie is called, and when it's released, it would be fun to watch it!
ReplyDeleteThe movie is called "Will You Marry Me" & I heard that the company producing is Bonus Network, but not 100% sure on that. The director has told our minister they will send us a copy so we can have a collective watch - who knows maybe a community event - socially distant of course :)
DeleteSounds exciting! I've seen some of those films. It must be interesting to have so much coming and going and new people around.
ReplyDeleteI met one of the actors today - he is playing a groomsmen, friend of the groom. In today's filming, the bride was in a big wedding dress & the poor girl was melting in the heat & humidity, as soon as the director yelled "cut" she'd pull the dress up & fan herself ... it was funny to watch.
DeleteYour church looks very beautiful ... No wonder they wanted to use it. How exciting for your village! I wonder what clever stuff they will do digitally to sort out the flag problem?
ReplyDeleteand just like that, the filming is done & the movie crew gone. I am hopeful we'll get a copy of the movie to see all that they "covered up"; they filmed at our church, a florist shop, a little cafe & strangely at the chemist (drugstore).
DeleteSounds like quite a bit going on there that is interesting & exciting. I know lots of movies and shows are filmed in Canada - we often recognize the highway from Calgary to Banff. :)
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