WATERVILLE (AP) – The Waterville Opera House will roll out the red carpet and be decked out Hollywood-style for the Maine premiere of the HBO movie “Empire Falls.”

The invitation-only event on Wednesday has all the making of an elegant affair, complete with the rolling out of the red carpet used at last week’s New York City premiere at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

HBO, Adelphia cable company and the Waterville Opera House are hosting the first Maine showing of the movie, a two-part miniseries that was filmed mostly in central Maine. The movie will show on HBO on May 28 and 29.

“Empire Falls” is based on Richard Russo’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name about a Maine mill town down on its luck. It features a star-studded cast including Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Helen Hunt, Ed Harris, Kate Burton, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Aidan Quinn.

Gov. John Baldacci will be on hand Wednesday to honor Russo at the premiere. Film director Fred Schepisi and actors William Fichtner and Delia Robertson also are expected to attend, according to Suzanne Pinto, director of corporate affairs for HBO.

Organizers, both in Waterville and at HBO in New York, are busy preparing the Opera House for the 650 people expected for the 6:30 p.m. showing. The Silver Street Tavern is planning on about 200 people who have been invited to a 5 p.m. private VIP reception before the show.

Pinto said HBO is bringing projection equipment from New York to set up in the Opera House.

The film will be shown on a 13- by 20-foot screen using high-definition video, she said.

About 600 people turned out last Monday for the New York City premiere of “Empire Falls,” Pinto said.

“We’re really proud of it and I think it was very well received,” she said.

Part one of the film will show on HBO on May 28 from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m., with part two airing on May 29 from 9 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. After its premiere, the film will be shown again several times in May and June on HBO and HBO2.