Entertainment

February 1, 2008

Lights! Camera! Action! On the NEPA set

By Mary Therese Biebel mbiebel@timesleader.com
Features Writer
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Boom. Boom. Boom. • Who could be knocking with such authority? • Frank pushes aside a heavy door to reveal Arthur, a slender man wearing a gas mask and a raincoat. • The character needs the gas mask because this film is set “in the not-too-distant future,” when the outside air is too polluted to breathe without a filter. • As for the raincoat, it’s just the kind of garment you’d expect a government official to wear. And Arthur does work for the government, for an agency that decides which man should pair off with which woman – and tries to make sure they … um … comply. • Welcome to the set – actually, a room in the Mary Stegmaier Mansion in Wilkes-Barre -- where several actors, all seasoned veterans of area stages, are working on the movie version of “Machines in Love,” a sci-fi thriller based on a play by Mark Wolverton.

It’s a Sunday evening, and three cast members patiently run through a scene again and again, up to the moment where rebellious Liz strides toward Arthur and holds out her wrists, urging him to cuff them and arrest her rather than force her to mate with Frank.

“You should step in between them,” director Paul Winarski tells actor Dane Bower, who plays a somewhat-protective Frank.

OK, the cast will do it again. Back to the knock on the door.

“Maybe when Arthur (played by Sandy Gabrielson) says ‘May I come in?’ he should walk right past Frank, as if no way is he taking ‘no’ for an answer,” assistant director Bob Sweeney says.

OK, the cast will do it again. Sweeney, who doubles as cinematographer, shoulders his camera as cast members return to their spaces.

If this sounds like hard work is mixed with the glamour, well, no one with firsthand experience in the film industry would be surprised.

More and more area residents are likely to feel the tedium – and the fun – of creating movies themselves as Northeastern Pennsylvania becomes the setting for various films during the next few months.

“I’m going to need all ages and all types of people (to be unpaid extras),” said Toni Cusumano,” who is casting for “Matter of Honor,” a larger-budget film that will star Harvey Keitel.

“The biggest thing people have to understand is anything can happen. A scene can be pushed because of weather,” Cusumano said. “Generally, extras are called the day before. There’s not a whole lot of heads up. It sounds very exciting, but they might get a call at 11 p.m. and be asked if they can be on the set at 6 p.m.”

If you’re not daunted by the need for that much flexibility, you’re welcome to e-mail photos and resumes to her at tonicusumanocasting@gmail.com.

That would be the first step toward a chance to appear in “Matter of Honor,” which Paige Balitski of the Greater Scranton Film Office has described as the story of a young man who sets out to clear the name of his late father, who is suspected of murdering a monsignor.

Famous actor Harvey Keitel is expected to play the monsignor, Balitski said, and the script also calls for “a Dolly Parton-type used-car salesman, a wisdom-toting American Indian gypsy cab driver and a South African new-age heart surgeon.”

Shooting for “Matter of Honor,” which is directed by Louis Hemsey, is expected to begin in April or May, Cusumano said.

By the end of the summer, Scranton-area shooting also should begin on “Random Axe,” a film written and directed by Blakely native John Kilker.

“I was about 20 pages into the script when I realized I was imagining Northeastern Pennsylvania,” said Kilker, who lived in the Los Angeles area for 10 years before recently returning to this region.

“Random Axe” details the story of a mild-mannered mattress salesman by day/vigilante by night.

Angered by the graffiti, vandalism and other petty crimes that plague the residents of fictional Polksville, salesman Randall Axtell becomes “Random Axe” and, aided by a police dispatcher, sets out, “wielding utility pocket protectors and a judicious nature to levy fitting punishments.”

Part of the inspiration for the movie comes from Kilker’s own experience, growing up as the son of a gas-station owner.

“If someone vandalized my dad’s gas station, he’d have to clean it up or put in a new glass window. Those little things are a great deal. They corrode society,” Kilker said.

Kilker is not at liberty to say which big-name actors might be part of his film but said there will be casting calls for extras. He also expects to hire local caterers and other local services.

“Any dollar we can spend locally we will.”

That pleases Balitski, director of the Greater Scranton Film Office, who devotes much of her time to touting Northeastern Pennsylvania as an ideal spot for all your filmmaking needs.

“We have everything here,” she said. “We have mountains. We have rivers. We have lakes. We have great architecture.”

Kilker agrees. “You can get just about any kind of look here, except maybe Southwest.”

Another movie Kilker produced, “Bonneville,” was set in Utah and starred Kathy Bates, Joan Allen and Jessica Lange. It premiered at the 2006 Toronto Film Festival and is expected to arrive in area theaters in February.

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