Hollywood flick with local ties won't open here

By Ryan Smith

Scouting for locations that would evoke an atmosphere of gloom and dread on the big screen, the people filming “The Road” found some of what they were looking for at Conneaut Lake Park in the spring 2008.

A year and a half later, the cinematic adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel — a father-and-son tale of survival in a post-apocalyptic world — is opening to theater audiences Nov. 25.

It appears, however, that moviegoers in the Meadville area — unless they want to hit the road themselves — may have to wait a little longer to see the film.

“It’s probably not going to open in Meadville,” said Jon Goldstein, the developer of The Movies at Meadville. “We’ve requested it for the last three months. We tried as hard as we possibly could. We even offered to pay for the print,” which costs around $2,000.

The 2929 Production, directed by John Hillcoat (“The Proposition”), is

being released through the Weinstein brothers’ Dimension Films. When it comes to such “specialty” films (think “Gran Torino” or the recently-released “Paranormal Activity”), Gold-stein said, major production companies most often release the movie first to major metropolitan markets, then gauge its success to determine at what other locations — and when — it will be further released.

It’s because “they’re not sure how (the films) are going to perform” at the outset, said Goldstein. Industry contacts “are telling me (“The Road”) is really kind of a depressing movie,” which in itself doesn’t generally make for big lines at the box office.

In the film, actor Viggo Mortensen — nominated for Best Actor for “Eastern Promises” and the star of “A History of Violence” and “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy — plays Papa to Kodi Smit-McPhee’s boy. As they journey through a post-apocalyptic world of “nights dark beyond darkness and the days more gray each one than what had gone before,” according to McCarthy’s prose, the pair hopes to find other survivors and safety at the sea. Shooting was based in the Pittsburgh area and also took place at various other locations throughout Pennsylvania, including a few days at Conneaut Lake Park and about two weeks at Presque Isle State Park in Erie County.

Even before its historic Dreamland Ballroom was reduced to ruins by arson, “Conneaut Lake (Park) was suggested, and the production designer (Chris Kennedy) and I came to look at it,” Andrew Ullman, location manager for the film, told the Tribune in 2008. “Chris thought it was apropos when we scouted several months ago. He was going to use a different location, but this was much better. ...It’s truly a wonderful place.”

So, for a few early-May days, the film’s production group of about 100 briefly set up shop at the 116-year-old amusement park. They said they were there to film a few scenes which occur near the end of the story using the park’s midway, the Beach Club, the boardwalk and behind Hotel Conneaut.

Goldstein said based on that local connection, he anticipates there will be something of a buzz when — or, if — “The Road” does open locally. Officials from the Crawford County Convention and Visitors’ Bureau recently said they’d be interested in working with The Movies to make the opening a local red carpet-style event.

But for now, “we sort of are just going to play it by ear,” and keep watch on how “The Road” does in its releases in major cities, said Goldstein.

Scenes for “The Road” — which also features stars including Charlize Theron, Robert Duvall and Guy Pearce — were also shot at Pennsylvania’s abandoned former state turnpike, on empty city blocks in Pittsburgh and in heavily-wooded areas around the state as well as in parts of New Orleans and on Mount St. Helens in Washington.

At its world premiere at the 2009 Venice International Film Festival in September, the film was nominated for both the festival’s Golden Lion and Silver Lion prizes. It’s also garnered acclaim from U.S. film critics: In a May review, Esquire magazine film critic Tom Chiarella called it “the most important film of the year.”

Ryan Smith can be reached at 724-6370 or by e-mail at rsmith@meadvilletribune.com.