SHORELINE — It will seem like Christmas in May when a Netflix movie crew shoots a holiday movie in Madison and Essex this weekend.
On Friday, set designers started to work at R.J Julia Booksellers in Madison. While temps were a balmy mid-60s, a garland was hung above the bookshelves and a holiday scene, complete with a steepled church surrounded by little paper evergreen trees, was created in the front windows of the bookstore.
The movie crew is in Madison ready to start shooting “The Noel Diary,” starring Justin Hartley (”This is Us”) and Treat Williams (“Everwood”).
Netflix has acquired the rights to Richard Paul Evan’s New York Times bestselling novel, “The Noel Diary.”
“The upcoming adaptation of this holiday-themed story is about a man who receives the best Christmas present he could ask for: the chance to re-write his past,” according to whats-on-netflix.com.
Lori Fazio, chief operating officer at R.J. Julia Booksellers, noted that the R.J. Café will be open all day on Saturday, but patrons won’t be able to catch any glimpses of the stars or cast from their tables.
“They’re going to block it off completely,” she said.
For the third day of shooting this movie, crews and stars will be in Madison’s R.J. Julia and The Griswold Inn in Essex.
“Part of the story is that we have two individuals who are kind of strangers and they’re going on this road trip together, during Christmas time, and one of them happens to be a famous author,” explained the assistant location manager, who spoke on the condition of anonymity per his contract.
“So, the other one is unaware of this, but she stops into a bookstore and finds his book and purchases it and that’s how she discovers just how famous he is,” he added. “So, that’s what we’re doing in the bookstore.”
The former location of Khaki & Black, next door to the bookstore and currently unoccupied, will be utilized by the crew.
“That works perfect for us to stage some of our background actors, for them to get ready and they can just walk right over next door, so we rented that out,” said the assistant location manager.
He explains how R.J. Julia was chosen.
“We have a team of folks that are part of my department to get a look into the location scouts and we task them and say, ‘We need to find the most charming book store that’s straight out of a postcard,’ and that happens to be in Madison,” he explained.
This shoot is scheduled immediately after the crew films the main characters in Essex.
“We’re using the Griswold Inn as an inn,” he said. “We have scene there that plays as a New England inn.”
“It’s all about the look,” he added. “How can we find what we’re looking for that’s within our range of being able to travel to.”
He explained that the entire movie is being filmed exclusively in Connecticut, including Bridgeport, Essex, Madison, Manchester and New Canaan.
He stressed that the film crew has worked very closely with the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development-Office of Film, TV & Digital Media to make connections in individual towns and obtain the necessary permits.
“This is a particularly large crew and it’s a ton of work to go from place to place, that’s for sure,” said Executive Producer Andrew Gernhard of Johnson Production Group CT.
He talked about the choice of Madison and Essex for shooting locations.
“It’s a Christmas movie, so it’s all about texture and the feeling of the movie and it just has a great look,” Gernhard said of R.J. Julia.
“The Gris is great,” he added. “We did a movie there years ago called “Christmas at Pemberley Manor,” and Essex as a whole has a beautiful look for any type of movie, that’s for sure.”
Both Madison and Essex are looking forward to welcoming the filming crews into town.
“It’s very exciting, especially with the pandemic we haven’t seen really any activity,” said Michele Call, Madison Chamber of Commerce assistant director.
“So, to see a movie being filmed in our little downtown, feels normal again and it’s exciting normal, like it would have been pre-pandemic,” she added.
Madison First Selectwomen Peggy Lyons echoes this.
“I think it’s really exciting for our town to be featured in a Netflix film and it just shows what a great environment we have here in Madison,” she said.
While Essex First Selectman Norm Needleman thinks that the forecast for storms this weekend will keep some fans away, he has engaged the help of the police and public works department to keep disruption down to a minimum.
“I think they’re (the film crew) constantly revising how they’re handing it, but we do everything we can to accommodate them and work together,” Needleman said.
“We want to make this work for everyone,” he added. “It’s good for the town, good for the state.”
In Madison, the police department, fire department and office of the first selectman have been working with the production company for the last two weeks “to ensure that we keep as much parking freed up for visitors to town and that there’s as minimal disruption as possible.”
“It will be somewhat disruptive,” Lyons said. “The actual shoot is not happening until the evening, but there’s a lot of equipment involved and a lot of planning involved, so they will start coming into town midday.”
Needleman sums up what it means to his town to have the movie crew chose them.
“It’s just kind of cool,” he said. “It reaffirms the fact that we’re in this quintessential New England, beautiful town.”
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May 29, 2021 at 07:09AM
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Netflix holiday movie filming in Madison and Essex this weekend - Middletown Press
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