The influx of film crews and actors who have swarmed the region in recent months have made St. Basil College Seminary a motion picture fixture.
-- BITSMailPreviewEnd --> Since Gov. M. Jodi Rell passed a bill this summer granting sizable tax breaks to filmmakers who shoot in Connecticut, St.
Basil's has served as a stage for three films, and was a "back-up site," for a fourth, faculty member Father Al Goldrick said. The only film recently shot in the area without the assistance of St. Basil's was "Ladies and Gentleman, The Bronx is Burning," a baseball-themed movie.
"[We're doing] not bad so far, to have almost all of them," Goldrick said, adding that the seminary hopes to draw more movies in the future. "We truly have gotten in on the ground floor." "In Bloom," which stars Uma Thurman as a woman who survives a school shooting, was the first to film on St.
Basil's turf in August. At the time, the seminary's Bishop Paul Chomnycky said the facility was used to depict a Catholic girl's school, and, for one dream sequence, hundreds of white crosses were set up on the lawn. He said the nearly 11-acre property, which includes a "unique" chateau structure, enticed "In Bloom" producers to approach the seminary about shooting there.
"It seemed to be a very attractive proposal, it didn't really demand much on our part," Chomnycky said. "The monetary rewards were worthwhile for the inconvenience." The seminary then entered talks with "Reservation Road," a drama about families intertwined by tragedy which stars Joaquin Phoenix, Mark Ruffalo and Jennifer Connolly.
It would have shot at St. Basil's in October. However, Goldrick said, another location more closely matched the book on which the film is based, and St.
Basil's was relegated to a "back up site." This month, "Factory Girl," a movie about the lives of Edie Sedgwick and Andy Warhol, completed shooting on campus. Guy Pearce, Sienna Miller, Jimmy Fallon and Hayden Christiansen will star in the film that was shot primarily at the seminary, Goldrick said.
The crew used the gothic 1860's mansion as the stage for a ballroom; an exterior courtyard was shot to depict 1960s Harvard; and sound stages were built in the seminary's gymnasium where the crew filmed Warhol [Pearce] going to confession, Goldrick said. Another room was used as Warhol's studio, and was featured throughout the film, he said. "They erect all the sets," Goldrick said.
"If you went in there you'd see three separate sets, a bed with a phone, and things like that." About 100 "Factory Girl" personnel completed about seven days of preparation and four days of filming at St. Basil's, Goldrick said.
In upcoming weeks, St. Basil's will also serve as a stage and staging area for "Ego," an independent film written and directed by Stamford native Antonio Macia. Set construction, which will feature several vignettes about men's downfalls due to ego, and stars Mehki Phifer, Eve, and Vincent Laresca, have already begun on campus, Goldrick said.
Chomnycky and Goldrick both credited the seminary's large campus, distinctive architecture, and variety of backdrops as a recent for its magnetism. Although St. Basil's already boasts an impressive list of movies, more may be on the way.
The seminary hopes to host remakes of "Christmas in Connecticut," and "The Women," both slated to film in the area in upcoming months, Goldrick said. He expects another "surge" of interest in the facility will emerge, Goldrick said, once the movies in which the seminary is featured hit the screen "Factory Girl" is to be released late this month, with "In Bloom" hitting theaters in 2007, and "Ego" debuting in 2008. Goldrick said networking with crew members, and a strong relationship with Connecticut Film Center President Kevin Segalla, have helped the seminary draw in movie-makers.
Segalla, whose Stamford-based company serves as a "filmmakers concierge," providing a variety of assistance including production service, financing, and location scouting, said he is working to bring more films to the area. Goldrick hopes when they come, St. Basil's will again be a part of the picture.
"Like anyone else we all go to the movies, so it's fun and entertaining," he said. "So if you can get into helping them [you do]."
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