Local Film Professionals Work on Michael Douglas Film
Michael Douglas rows a boat on Pontoosuc Lake during the filming of 'Blood Knot' in this photo by Mark Farrell, a set decorator on the production.
The film industry is alive and well around here, with local film professionals Deborah Sims, Mark Farrell, and Terri See most recently working on "Blood Knot."
Sims was the production supervisor, Farrell the set decorator and See the decorator and buyer for the production unit in Massachusetts for filming over several days last month.
The film stars Oscar-winning actor Michael Douglas, known for his roles in "Wall Street," "Fatal Attraction," "Ant-man" and many more.
It follows a grandfather telling his grandson the story of his father's attempt to reconnect through a father-son fishing competition in Puerto Rico.
The film was described to The Hollywood Reporter as a movie "about redemption, love, and forgiveness. About several generations of a family brought together and torn apart by mystery, murder, and true confessions."
Only the scenes involving the grandfather telling the grandson the story were shot in Massachusetts, making up about 20 minutes of the film, Sims said. The rest of the film will be flashbacks to bring the grandfather's story to life.
The flashback scenes will be shot in Belize and Mexico City later this summer.
Despite spending the most of his time on a boat in the middle of three different lakes, Douglas was lovely to work with, Sims and See said.
"He was lovely and is such a trooper because he had to spend all those days on a rowboat. Like almost all of it was him on a rowboat. It wasn't easy. It wasn't easy conditions and he was an incredible trooper and really lovely," Sims said.
Because he is an iconic actor, just being around Douglas is a really special feeling that can make even the mundane thrilling, See said.
"Because he's so iconic, I think it was just there's just a real special feeling being around him and standing near him and hearing that really iconic voice. For those of us really familiar with his career, his movies you hear him say just any old thing like past the potato chips and it's kind of thrilling," See said.
It was also nice to be part of the "big club," Farrell said. Although he had never met Douglas his parents did when they lived at the Motion Picture & Television Fund Retirement Home in California.
"It so happened that Michael's dad had Alzheimer's disease so there was an off-wing at the Motion Picture Home out there, Kirk Douglas' Alzheimer's wing, and so Michael and Catherine [Zeta-Jones], his wife, would come out and they were just so sweet to everybody," Farrell said.
"And they were particularly sweet so when Michael came on set, I just got to introduce myself and say thank you for being so nice to my parents, which is a cool thing to be able to say."
Sims got the "cold call" around May 21 from the film's production manager, who then visited the area for two days location scouting. On May 26, Sims was hired and started to prepare for the film.
They scouted six or seven locations before settling on Benedict Pond at Beartown State Forest in Monterey and two lakes in Pittsfield: Onota and Pontoosuc, Sims said.
"The film takes place on one lake. It's a grandfather telling his grandson a story while they're fishing on this rowboat," Sims said.
They chose Benedict Pond because it is perfect for the quiet scenes because of how easy it was to control the water traffic due to the boat ramp, Sims said. It is also very tranquil and doesn't have houses around it.
They chose Pontoosuc Lake because the Rusty Anchor Marina & Pub Club allowed them to film the scene where the grandfather and grandson pull up the boat to a bar. Onota was selected because the location scout really liked a house there for the scene where the grandfather picks his grandson up at his mother's.
Every film has its challenges, Sims said. For this one it was the lakes and time restrictions.
"It's pretty much the same amount of prep, whether you're shooting three days or 20 days. We kind of had to do all the prep in about two weeks which is not a lot of time," Sims said.
"This one was challenging because it was only three days of real shooting with talent and it was three lakes in three days. So, everything had to pick up and move every night from one lake and move to another lake and it was challenging."
Sims and See described the daily scene of cranes lifting a flotilla of around six boats to the new location and setting base camp under tents.
The state's Film Incentive Tax Credit, locations in the Berkshires, and the area's atmosphere makes it an ideal and feasible place to bring stories to life, the three film pros said.
"[Los Angeles] looks like L.A. and New York looks like New York and Boston looks like Boston but a lot of people when they write a movie, they want it to feel universal. They want to feel like it could be any town anywhere USA," Farrell said.
"And what's great about Western Massachusetts is that it has all those looks. It has the farm look and the small-town look and woods look and it's got a bunch of different looks, but it's also only three hours from New York and three hours from Boston."
Even during the pandemic the industry was thriving, production supervisor Deborah Sims said. During the pandemic, Sims worked with See and Farrell in four feature films since fall of 2021, two of which have had recent 2023 world premieres at Sundance and Tribeca film festivals
"I think [the film industry in the Berkshires is] wonderful and unexpected. I kind of came up from running a production company in New York and thought I was gonna relax up here and the film industry just kind of took me in and it's bloomed and it's really great," Farrell said. "There's a lot going on up here. So it's really nice,"
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