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Latest
Updates on: Empire Falls
Empire
Falls Updated:
Friday
12th March 2004: Empire Falls Update:
Tim has been in touch with the following info on Empire Falls
"Richard Russo the author novel or
screenwriter of the movie, during an interview with WCSH Ch6
Tv in Portland,
Maine reports that the movie is being tweaked to be shown over
the course of
4 Sundays in 55 minute installments on HBO. The movie is scheduled
to be
shown in December 2004. After this showing then the movie will
be shown in
it's entirety afterward.
Also Oscar winning composer Jerry Goldsmith (Omen & the
original Planet of
the Apes) is currently composing the music."
Friday 12th March 2004: Final Destination 3 Update:
Martin has been in touch to advise that Tony Todd has been talking
about a possible Final Destination 3 "Right now they're
prepping it," Todd also confirmed that his character will
probably return and further rumours has the project being in
3D
Thursday 11th December 2003: Empire Falls Update:
Tom has been in touch with another update on Empire Falls "Frank Capri III has left a message with our Town's Management that the last scene shot for Empire Falls was not exactly too his liking. The scene involves a stunt double of Joanne Woodward going over our Hydroelectric dam free flow current. He said he will be back next spring for a redo of that scene. The film wont be released until 2005, not the 2004 date I wrote before."
Monday 1st December 2003: Empire Falls Update:
Jack & Eva have been in touch to advise that filming has finished on Empire Falls "The movie was completed and a wrap party held in Waterville , Maine for about 300 people involved in the film, including the actors and the extras. Paul Newman and Ed Harris it was reported were not present at the party, but the producers, author and several of the younger actors were. A film made up of some of the bloopers created during the filming was shown."
Monday 24th November 2003: Empire Falls Update:
Jack & Eva have been in touch with another update on Empire Falls "Filming last week was spread all over the immediate area, filming at Empire Falls Senior High (Waterville, Maine while the school was closed for Veteran's Day) took place with the classroom shooting, many extras were used, Ed Harris, Larry Pine, Danielle Pannabaker, Stephen Mendillo,Lou Taylor Pucci, and Trevor Morgan were at the school. Several area police agencies (state police, etc,) and ambulance services were used for the filming. Local news TV channels were included in the filming as were reporters and photographers for the local Waterville newspaper. Filming at the hospital in Skowhegan for emergency room scenes were also done.
More scenes at the church(in Waterville) took place, Ed Harris once again attempting to scrape the old paint and climb the ladder .This day started off chilly.The Cappra Brothers were present and Danielle Pannabaker stopped by with her mom to deliver what looked to be home baked brownies to the crew. On Friday Danielle took time to sign autographs at a local store in Waterville for people who wanted to buy Empire Falls books or who already had them.
Filming at the "Jon Voss" home took place on one day in the late afternoon into the night. A fight scene was done at the "mill"(the old Hathaway Shirt Factory), between Ed Harris and William Fichtner with Joanne Woodward present.
This week scenes were done at the church in Waterville again, the bridge area in Norridgewock, Maine (car scenes, and gazebo scenes), in Skowhegan at "The Grill", at Miles apartment, the Municipal Building (where Miles goes to registrar his car). The hallway to this building was decorated in framed photos, maps , snowshoes, and Indian artifacts,(many came from the National Archives in Washington D.C. the Maine State Museum, the University of Maine, and some private collections), some of these items are to be phased in during the introduction of the movie. Many cars of the era were used on Tuesday to drive back and forth and be parked near the grill, along with extras being dressed in the clothing of that time. Windows for unoccupied buildings were turned into sporting goods stores for the day, and some other businesses were changed (at least on the outside) into a hardware store(there was even an outdoor table of home canned vegetables and fruits, cloth upholstery store, with bolts of cloth on an outside table , and the florist window was decorated by the local florist with old wedding 8 by 10's, wedding arrangements, and clusters of real plants and flowers adorned their entrance on the sidewalk. New signs were hung and then everything returned to normal once filming was done. The windows were indeed dressed in great detail.
The parade scene that at first was to be made up of many extras and stars was postponed a couple of times , but on Tuesday it was filmed on one of the bridges(The Margaret Chase Smith Bridge) coming into Skowhegan, made up of a few spectators to cheer on the Empire Falls Marching Band, cheerleaders and mascot (the Waterville, Maine marching band played the part).
Today several scenes in different areas took place, some in Waterville at the "mill" , in Norridgewock (I heard it had to do with the gazebo and the flood), in Skowhegan where The Grill was sprayed and a paint roller used to dirty up the exterior. Danielle Pannabaker, Ed Harris, Aidian Quinn were present. Scenes in Miles Roby's apartment, (Ed Harris) were to be done tonight.
Preparation was also being done for the gazebo scene , a shattered gazebo top and roof were constructed and hauled down to the river's edge, men in diving attire set up cables as they waded in the waters and rode on seadoos and rafts near the dam. What looked like a dummy was attached to the roof of the gazebo and a person was seen laying on the rocks near the riverbank as the producer talked to them, a pet carrier was brought down and a cat was placed on the persons back and then taken away again.The weather was rather cool and damp with gray skies that should benefit the flood scene. The scene is suppose to be completed tomorrow. Today was the last day of actual filming with the characters."
Monday 24th November 2003: Empire Falls Update:
Tom has been in touch with the following info on Empire Falls "Yesterday the heavens opened up here in a strong natural dark rainy downpour--Just the kind of day the Empire Falls fiim crew desired for there films final shooting! They were filming the gazebo scene-where Joanne Woodward floats down the River /during a flood/ in the epics final shoot. (In reality-they used the Kennebec River below the Hydroelectric dam and some well corrdinated signals by dam controllers-to create a flood.) But for the romantics amoung us-well they will just have to read the Richard Russo novel Empire Falls/or/ wait a year(so I was told) for the Frank CapraIII sponsored by HBO to be released. Today and tomorrow the film company is closing up shop-putting everything back as it was and getting ready to go back to Pennsylvania/usa-where one of there home bases is. I for one will miss seeing them all over in our downtown commerce area/ plus all the mistakes and fixes that I witnessed. But I guess I have shared some with you and just have another fun story to tell my nephew the next I see him."
Monday
10th November 2003: Empire Falls Update:
Jack & Eva Adams have been in touch with more info on the
Empire Falls filming "
Last Thursday the filming moved back to the Skowhegan area after
returning
from southern Maine where shots were done at Lincolnville Beach
(the ferry
there was used), Ogunquit, and Kennebunport.
On Thursday they filmed in Norridgewock,( gazebo shots and ones
on the
bridge), Ed Harris and Joanne Woodward were present at those
shoots.That
night they returned to Skowhegan and did some scenes of Ed Harris
drivng
down the road and giving Lou Taylor Pucci (Jon Voss) a ride.That
night they
were to return to Norridgewock to do some night running scenes.
On Friday filming at the bank, with Ed Harris , Estelle Parsons(who
said it
was her last day of filming) and a lady who Harris in "character"
referred
to as his ex-wife(Helen Hunt ? not certain since it was reported
in the
paper that she had completed her filming and left the area,
maybe a double?)
when she exited the bank area ,jumped into a car and took off
squealing her
brakes.Danielle Pannabaker was also involved in the filming
being done that
day.
Saturday they returned to Waterville to do some more shots at
the High
School and are suppose to film there again on Monday."
Monday
3rd November 2003: Empire Falls Update:
Rhonda has sent in the following "Heard on the radio that
Aidran Quinn was picked up for OUI on saturday in Waterville
Maine on Kennedy Memorial Drive.They did not release the amount
of alcohol in his system,but Maine has a .08 level as being
OUI."
Thursday
23rd October 2003: Empire Falls Update:
A superb report in today from Jack & Eva Adams "
Last week filming of the wedding took place in a local Skowhegan
,Maine
fitness center between "Walt"(Dennis Farina) and "Janine"(Helen
Hunt) who
wore an off white wedding dress. It was a terrible rainy day
so the indoor
filming was a good idea that day. The local paper, Waterville
Morning
Sentinel reported the following information about the wedding.
Many extras
from the area were used and many of the cast were present for
the
wedding(Estelle Parsons, Ed Harris, Jeffery DeMunn, Theresa
Russell, and
Danielle Pannabaker).The wedding took about 18 hours to film.
A local
Waterville bakery made the wedding cake, a strawberry swirl
cake with
buttercream frosting, tinted off-white. The colors for the event
were peach
and purple. Bouquets for the wedding were created by Empire
Falls
Florist-actually known as Skowhegan Fleuriste.The reception
consisted of
ham, pickles, and orange molded Jello rings set amid exercise
bicycles and
gym equipment. A local band played and although it took all
day no dance was
ever complete , no song ever played more than a line or two.
On Saturday
the 18th they did filming at "The Grill" with Helen
Hunt
(Janine), Adian Quinn(David), Danielle Pannabaker(those were
the ones I
saw).
On Tuesday they were filming at a location in Skowhegan, a driving
scene
where "Tick" and "Janine" are riding and
Tick gets her back pack caught when
she gets out of the vehicle and her mother starts to drive off.
The sun
didn't co-operate with them however so they didn't get the complete
scene
shot.
Today they were in Waterville filming at a local home where
young Miles and
his mother live. Robin Wright Penn plays the mother, she could
be seen
hanging out the laundry as she talked to a neighbor. Very chilly
weather,
about 36 degrees and spitting snow!
A scene with the ferry in Lincolnville, Maine was to be shot
this week, but
due to bad weather it was postponed."
Friday
17th October 2003: Empire Falls Update:
An article about the Empire Falls filming has appeared online
Click
Here
Thursday
16th October 2003: Empire Falls Update:
More pics have appeared online of the Empire Falls
filming Click
Here
Monday
13th October 2003: Empire Falls Update:
Another
update on the Empire Falls filming just in " Filming today
, October 11th in Oakland, Maine. Scenes are in a cemetary,
from the road one can see two stones (one quite tall) that say
Whiting on them. The scenes that were being shot while I was
there included Ed Harris and Kate Burton. They were walking
along together arm in arm , her with her crutch type cane ,
towards the graves."
Monday
13th October 2003: Empire Falls Update:
And
the Empire Falls info just keeps on coming "
Star Popularity Contest in Skowhegan,opps,"Empire Falls"
In the great
town of "Empire Falls"(actually Skowhegan,Maine),there
seems to be a popularity contest among actors and actresses
among local folks. It appears(and this report is in itself subjective),it
appears Ed Harris is taking top honors as the most popular star
in the Skowhegan area. Ed seems to be increasing his popularity
from being seen in many local public stores and places.
William
Fitchner has become a favorite with the local PD.
Paul Newman,some
people have said Paul was not so polite and gave them a cold
shoulder when they came in contact with him. This is more than
likely a wrong impression of Paul if one is empathic with him.
He has thousands of people everyday competing for his attention,imagine
saying "hi" a thousand times a day. I understand Paul
has not found any good eating restaurants in the entire state
of Maine. Tell us Mainers and flatlandes something we didnt
already know. Paul is a nice guy in real life,trust me.
Dennis Farina
is my favorite and a favorite of the local starlets. He is likely
the most affable Hollywood star on the set of Empire Falls.
This is
a tremendous positive energy around the filming of Empire Falls.
Although slated to be a made-for-tv film,rumors are "Empire
Falls" might instead go to the "big screens".
Empire Falls is going to be a great movie,one can feel the charisma
in the air."
Thursday
9th October 2003: Empire Falls Update:
Pics and a report from the filming on Empire Falls has just
been sent in, thanks to Chris!
"I took the pics about 3pm Wednesday afternoon,the 8th.
Highlights of the Day, a Skowhegan bum went up to
the crew of Empire Falls and Willian Ficthner and had
his 15 minutes of fame. The Skowhegan bum told the
crew "(paraphrased)the downtown businesses are losing
money because of the film ....and no one in Skow-
hegan can afford HBO so we will not watch it..." How
embarrassing.
Also,after a scene was done ,Willian Ficthner was taking
the usual 100 yard walk to a roped off section for actors
and crew near Skowhegan Cinema. A man(maybe the
bum mentioned above,maybe not,could not tell) began
chasing William Ficthner "aggressively",very aggressively.
5 Empire Falls security personnel ran to Fitchner's 'sit-
uation',and had the guy back off. No Skowhegan PD were
involved as the incident quickly defused itself."
Friday
3rd October 2003 Empire Falls Update:
The following images from the filming of Empire Falls in
Skwohegan have just been received.
Click
Each Pic for MUCH larger versions!
Wednesday
8th October 2003: Empire Falls Update:
Joseph has been in touch with the following report from the
filming of Empire Falls "This afternoon like many days
this month, I was able to go watch Paul Newman in Empire Falls
in Skowhegan. the crowd of spectators is getting smaller as
having Paul Newman in town is getting more routine,as he was
between scenes and glanced over at the spectators, I gave him
the peace sign,he saw me and threw up his arms like a football
referree signing a field
goal. we,movie spectators can get as close as 30-40 yards away
from Newman and Ed Harris. Because skowhegan is in the middle
of no where in
Maine,it is so easy to be close to Newman and the filming of
Empire Falls."
Friday
3rd October 2003: Empire Falls Update:
Adams has been in touch with the following "If you go to
www.centralmaine.com
the morning sentinel they do a story
about everyday on the movie and what filming is being done (where,
who,some
photos etc.) also www.mainetoday.com/empirefalls/index.shtml
or
www.mainetoday.com/empirefalls/morenews.shtml
has a special online segment
on Empire Falls, it contains newspaper accounts from the very
begining of
the film makers looking at this area to picking extras to everyday
coverage.
Yesterday(Oct.1,03)
and today (Oct. 2,03)they have been in Waterville, Maine
filming scenes at a local bar (The Bob In) , but named Calahans
in the
movie, Paul Newman , Estelle Parsons, and Ed Harris are in the
scenes.I
believe they are to be there again tomorrow.Next week they are
back to
Skowhegan."
Thursday
2nd October 2003: Empire Falls Update:
A ton of info on on the filming for Empire Falls has just been
sent in "
On Friday Sept. 26, 2003 filming locations were in Norridgewock,
Maine in the morning shooting scenes on a bridge where efforts
were hampered by rain. In the afternoon shooting moved back
to the town of Skowhegan Maine, Although some filming took place
it never really seemed to get under way to the expectations
of the schedule.
Saturday Sept. 27, 2003 filming location was Skowhegan, Maine,
where Paul Newman and Ed Harris shot scenes inside the off green
Jetta which was towed through town for filming (mostly on River
Street) and later driven by Newman and Harris into the parking
lot, preparing to enter the Empire Grill.
Monday Sept. 29, 2003 filming location was Skowhegan, Maine
touching up scenes from Saturday with additional scenes shot
with Ed Harris and William Fitchner (in uniform) and street
scenes with Ed Harris across from the Empire Grill with scenes
in front of the movie theater.
Tuesday Sept. 30, 2003 filming location in the morning was Norridgewock,
Maine in the morning reportedly shooting or touching up the
church scene and shifting location to Skowhegan, Maine by mid
morning. With a high percentage of filming done in the street
for Dennis Farina's entrance into the Empire Grill, Scenes continued
inside the grill with Ed Harris and William Fitchner (out of
uniform) for the rest of the day."
Tuesday
23rd September 2003: Empire Falls Update:
Just received word that filming on Empire Falls started on September
8th.
Tuesday
23rd September 2003: Empire Falls Update:
This just in from Tom on Empire Falls "The Empire Falls
Movie Company (with Executive Producer Paul Newman) has presently
left our town for shooting movie scenes. The Film crew N Stars
are either filming in Kennebunkport or Ogunquit/Maine-both Seacoast
towns. (Our town is approx.75 miles inland from the southern
coast of Maine). At the end of Sept.-the Movie Company is returning
here to Skowhegan/Maine. "
Monday
22nd September 2003: Empire Falls Update:
The final cast for Empire Falls has been set as Aidan Quinn,Theresa
Russell,Estelle Parsons,William Fichtner,Jeff
Demunn,Kate Burton,and Dannielle Panabaker, Dennis Farina,Phillip
Seymour
Hoffman,Robin Wright- Penn,Helen Hunt,Ed Harris,Trevor Morgan,Paul
Newman, Joanne Woodward and Lou Taylor Pucci
Monday
18th August 2003: Empire Falls Update:
Dittler has just been in touch with the following "Trevor
Morgan has also
been cast as Zack Minty."
Monday
11th August 2003: Empire Falls Update:
Word reaches us today that Lou Taylor Pucci, who is currently
filming
Thumbsucker with Keanu Reeves, has been signed up to play a
character
called John Voss, a disturbed loner who works as a busboy at
the Empire
Grill. Thanks to Anon!
Tuesday
5th August 2003: Empire Falls Update:
Filming on Empire Falls that will star Helen Hunt,
Ed Harris and Philip Seymour Hoffman will join Paul Newman and
his wife when filming begins next month in and around Waterville
and Skowhegan, Maine.
Friday
1st August 2003: Empire Falls Update:
Director Fred Schepsi looks to have signd up Helen Hunt, Joanne
Woodward,
Paul Newman, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Ed Harris for a movie
to be titled
Empire Falls. The script has been written by Richard Russo based
on his own
novel that centres on the decay of an American town.
More News on
Empire Falls as we get it! |
