Actors Jonathan Stoddard and Matt Munroe on the set of “Bone Cold,” being partly shot in Parsonsfield this month. Submitted photo
Earlier this month, while shooting the feature film “Bone Cold,” Billy Hanson had to stop filming “because our cameraman’s toes were nearly frostbitten.”
Not great for the cameraman, but not entirely bad for the movie.
For the film, Maine is filling in for the Ukraine. Hanson’s here for a certain toe-biting-cold look.
Producer Cory Pyke flew in with a crew from Los Angeles to also film here, last October — Maine’s fall foliage fit his dark thriller just right.
Writer/director Doug Bost shot here last July, using a coastal cabin that turned out to have the perfect quirky, rustic charm that he would have needed to pay a set designer to recreate if he stayed in New York.
Maine’s long had a quietly happening, indie-heavy film scene, and 2019 promises to keep it rolling. On top of “Bone Cold,” “Allagash,” starring Tom Berenger, is filming in Bethel next month. And Lewiston-Auburn’s Emerge Film Festival in October is sure to bring out more.
We talked with Hanson, Pyke and Bost about ties that brought them here, the challenges (what’s a little frostbite?) and the perks (there’s no place like home).
* * *
Writer, director and Maine native Billy Hanson on the set of “Bone Cold” earlier this month. In his movie, Maine is filling in for the Ukraine. (Submitted photo)
“Bone Cold”
Filmed: February 2019 in Parsonsfield, Portland and other southern Maine locales
Why Maine? Hanson is a Maine native, born in Presque Isle, and this is his first time both writing and directing a feature-length film.
“A lot of what I write takes place in the small towns and deep woods,” he said. “Not only are there various, stunning landscapes, but I’ve got roots here, so telling a story with that backdrop was inevitable.”
The micro-budget film by Dirigo Entertainment is being produced for less than $50,000. It’s a psychological thriller centering on the effects of wartime trauma, with both “The Young and the Restless”‘s Jonathan Stoddard and a monster . . .
Challenges? We did already mention the cameraman’s toes.
“The cold can be bad enough to mess with our cameras, the unpredictable arrival or departure of cloud cover can wreak havoc on our lighting continuity, and the largely-LA (Los Angeles) based crew is forced to deal with weather they’re not used to,” Hanson said. “But for the most part, the local support for the project has gotten us through all of that. A friend of the family, Dan Shaw, has been amazingly generous in allowing us to shoot on his property, including the use of his heated garage to store our equipment, craft services and for us to thaw out after a 12-hour day in the woods.”
Perks? A lot of local love, which Hanson said he would never have found in Los Angeles, where he lives now.
“We’ve been shooting for less than a week and we’ve had a flood of emails from people hoping to be extras, people offering up their land to shoot on, or offering their services if we needed them,” he said. “One of our locations is a mile into the thick woods in Parsonsfield, but thankfully we had a couple members of a southern Maine snowmobile club offer to help bring people and equipment out to the location and back again. People here are excited about the arts, especially if the community can be a part of it. Myself included.”
When can we see it? He’s shooting for a spring/summer 2020 release and planning to hit the festival circuit.
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A scene featuring young actress Acadia Bost from Doug Bost’s upcoming film “The Bride in the Box,” shot in Maine last summer. (Submitted photo)
“The Bride in the Box”
Filmed: July 2018 in Hancock
Why Maine? Writer and director Bost, who lives now in New York, grew up in Orono.
He raised $81,366 on Kickstarter last year to fund his first feature-length film. The psychological horror is set around a family vacationing in Maine and stars his wife, Carolyn Baeumler (“Iron Fist,” “Law & Order”), their daughter, Acadia, and Victor Verhaeghe (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” “Boardwalk Empire”).
“A lot of things that I write are about Maine or inspired by growing up there,” Bost said. “I thought for a little while I would have to shoot it in upstate New York, just for the budget, but I was lucky enough to get a fantastic location in Hancock. It’s so much better to actually shoot in Maine.”
Old friends gave him the use of their camp in Hancock.
“It hasn’t been renovated in decades, and that makes it really wonderful,” he said. “You make a movie and you want to set it in an odd house. You would have to get an art director and people to work for a long time to make anything look as great as that house naturally does.”
Challenges? Finding the right local talent.
“I wasn’t able to find grips and gaffers, I wasn’t able to find a hair and makeup person who I needed,” Bost said. “For the most part, I had to bring people up from New York, which I had great people, but it was unfortunate. I really wanted to use local people. It’s not that people (in Maine) aren’t good; it’s that they’re not even there because they can’t make a living there.”
Perks? The landscape, which he was already a big fan of. (He and Carolyn named daughter Acadia after their “favorite place in
Carolyn Baeumler stars in “The Bride in the Box,” a creepy, ghostly tale shot in Maine last summer. (Submitted photo)
the world.”)
“When you go see a movie that’s supposedly set in Maine, it rarely is and you can tell it,” said Bost. “I love Stephen King, but so many of his movies and TV shows, although they’re set in Maine, they never look like they are. You can tell, ‘Oh, that’s the West Coast or that’s Massachusetts.’ I feel like Maine is something beautiful that’s rarely seen on film.”
When can we see it? He’s hoping to submit it to film festivals this summer and may run a second Kickstarter to finish the last $25,000 in post-production costs.
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Director Joe Raffa, center, wearing jacket, and Edwin Stevens on the set of “Dark Harbor,” shot in Maine last fall. Stevens, a Maine native, was the film’s executive producer and director of photography. (Submitted photo)
“Dark Harbor”
Filmed: October 2018, half on Islesboro, half Standish, Portland and Boothbay
Why Maine? Pyke’s producing partner, Edwin Stevens, who founded APS Films in Los Angeles, is a Kennebunk native and spent summers growing up on Islesboro.
“The location was like coming home for him, definitely one of the motivations,” Pyke said.
“Dark Harbor” is set in Maine, about a woman who finds buried family secrets after her father goes suddenly missing. The film, which had a half-million-dollar budget, was written and directed by Joe Raffa. Stevens was both executive producer and director of photography.
Some cast and crew joined them from the Boston and Portland areas, including actor Xander Berkeley, whose credits include “The Walking Dead,” “24” and “The Mentalist.”
“Once we got out here, we found out he was in Maine,” Pyke said. “He just came down the street and met us and says, ‘This looks like fun.'”
Challenges? Mainly distance.
“The biggest con is it’s far away from your gear rental and from the people in LA that you want to bring out, so just a lot of travel,” Pyke said. “Once we got there, we got to stay in beautiful vacation homes.”
Perks? There’s no place like it.
“Gorgeous landscape helps a lot — you can’t really fake that in Los Angeles,” he said. “Even the big-budget movies, when they need that landscape, you have to be there.”
The Maine Film Office was also great to work with, Pyke said, “which is an underrated part of film-making that the lay person doesn’t consider, that just across a state line it can be a totally different experience, depending on who you’re working with.”
When can we see it? The movie’s expected to finish post-production in May and likely to be seen by the end of the year, either at festivals or straight to distribution.
That’s a wrap! The cast and crew of “Dark Harbor” celebrate finishing the movie shoot last October. (Submitted photo)
kskelton@sunjournal.com
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