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April 23, 2008

Conneaut Lake Park makes film debut

CONNEAUT LAKE — Filmmakers, cast and crew of “The Road” — starring recent Oscar and Golden Globe nominee Viggo Mortensen and Oscar-winning actress Charlize Theron — will soon visit Conneaut Lake Park to record a portion of the major motion picture, according to Emma Cooper, publicist for the film.

Cooper said earlier this month that contracts have been signed and the crew will be in the area for “a few days,” and will “stay with locals (at motels) in the area for about two weeks.”

“The Road” is based on the 2007 Cormac McCarthy Pulitzer prize-winning novel of the same name and is an epic adventure about a father-and-son’s quest for survival in a post-apocalyptic world.

Critical scenes were to be shot today in Erie at Presque Isle State Park, according to a story Monday in the Erie Times-News. It’s a closed set.

Australian actor Kodi-Smit-McPhee will play the son. Supporting cast members include Guy Pearce of “The Proposition” and “Memento,” and Oscar-winning actor Robert Duvall of “The Godfather” and “We Own the Night.”

Eight scenes will be shot at Conneaut Lake Park, according to George Deshner, general manager of the historic 116-year-old amusement park. Scenes will include several locations: near the ruins of Dreamland Ballroom, on the boardwalk, at the Beach Club and Hotel Conneaut and in other places.

Through the movie’s plot line, father and son walk a dangerous road in a post-apocalytic world where cities have been destroyed, plants and animals have died and every scrap of food has been plundered. The few surviving humans who roam this wasteland have turned to cannibalism, according to the film’s synopsis. The epic adventure follows their quest for survival as they make their way toward the sea in the hope of finding safety and other surviving “good people.”

“The story explores hope in the face of hopelessness, the ephemeral nature of our existence and the vanishing world we all carry within us. As we watch these two travelers, a father and son who carry our humanity, we can’t help but feel the world hangs in the balance of their quest,” a synopsis of the film states.

Discussions with park officials about filming at the park started in January, prior to the Dreamland Ballroom fire in early February, according to Deshner.

Portions of the movie are now being recorded in Pittsburgh and officials there directed makers of “The Road” to visit Conneaut Lake Park for possible filming of other scenes.

Film crews toured the park several times before the fire, Deshner said.

After the Dreamland Ballroom fire, film director John Hillcoat toured the park and agreed it was a good place for some of the scenes. He said destruction of the ballroom lends itself to the atmosphere the filmmakers hope to capture.

Cooper said it is doubtful that any local people will be hired as “extras,” noting the film is about the fact that everybody is dead. She said the crew travels with them.

A 2929 Production, “The Road,” is executive-produced by Todd Wagner, Rudd Simmons, Mark Cuban and Marc Butan.

The final weeks of filming will be done in New Orleans and it’s due in theaters in November.

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