‘Skeletons in the Closet’ filming ends in the Valley Principal on-site filming was completed locally May 21 for the independent psycho-thriller, “Skeletons in the Closet.” Shown above during a break in filming of a scene at the Shannon Door Pub in Jackson May 16 were (from left) Valley native Gordon Clapp of “NYPD Blue” fame, Treat Williams of “The Devil’s Own,” Tess and “Hollywood” Tom Mulkern, operators-owners of the Shannon Door Pub, and Linda Hamilton of “Terminator I” and “Terminator II.” The film was produced, written and directed by Wayne Powers, a 1979 graduate of Kennett High, and his wife, Linda, co-authors of last summer’s box office hit, “Deep Blue Sea.” Many local residents were used as extras on the film. The release date for the film has not yet been determined, but a local screening is assured, according to Wayne Powers. (Steve Eastman/Mountain Ear Photo) Tom Eastman 5/25/00 Production wrapped up on the principal shooting for Wayne Powers’ independently produced, “low”-budget film, “Skeletons in the Closet” Sunday, May 21, thus ending a memorable three-week span here in the Valley that left many residents both “psyched” and “thrilled” to have been a part of the digitally shot psycho-thriller. A release date for the film has not been set, but rest assured that there will be a special screening for a charitable cause here in the Valley when it is released, according to writer-director-producer Wayne Powers, the 1979 Kennett High alumnus who wrote the film with his wife, Donna, who met with the press at the Wentworth Resort in Jackson May 20. Crews have been in the Valley since May 2 for the film. The film was shot for under $2 million, and stars Treat Williams of “Where the Rivers Flow North” and “The Devil’s Own,” Linda Hamilton of “Terminator” and “Terminator II,” who plays Williams’ girlfriend; Emmy Award-winning actor and former Valley resident Gordon Clapp of “NYPD Blue” fame, who plays Williams’ boss, who is also the father of Treat’s son’s girlfriend, and teen star Jonathan Jackson of TV’s “General Hospital,” who plays Williams’ son. Flanking Powers at last Saturday’s press conference were Executive Producer Glenn S. Gainor of Los Angeles, along with Williams, Hamilton and Clapp. Jackson was out of town. Powers — who with his wife co-wrote last year’s box office hit, “Deep Blue Sea” — said he was inspired to write the screenplay for the film by the relationship between serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer and his father. Powers said there is a story that Dahmer’s father asked a judge not to release his son, who had been arrested on a misdemeanor charge at the time, because he believed he needed psychological help. Powers said it was his wife’s idea to write the screenplay for “Skeltons” from the father’s viewpoint. ‘Skeletons in the Closet’ is a psychological thriller about a father [Williams] who slowly comes to believe that his son [Jackson] may have committed a series of murders, but as the mystery progresses, the audience will start to wonder: is the father correct, or is the father actually paranoid and trying to cover up secrets about his own past, because there is also involved a fire in which his wife dies,” said Powers. Powers noted that filming had gone on the past three weeks without a hitch. He said most low budget films are shot in Canada, because of the exchange rate savings. “I was determined that this film would not be done in Canada,” he said, noting that an earlier screenplay he had written ended up being re-set in that country, although the film ended up never being produced. “What you have to do is convince the money people that although the exchange rate is favorable in Canada, we can more than make up for that by the production value you can get here and the generosity of local people.” He said New Hampshire is a Right-to-Work state, which means that the film company is not required to hire union workers. He said he hoped this was the start of other film production opportunities here in Mt. Washington Valley, especially now that a core of local people has been trained to help in production, as is the case in Canada. “Where the real [public relations] comes in is that people who spend money on films will see that a film can be produced [here] and stay on budget. There’s a lot of pressure to bring films to Canada,” said Powers. Gainor estimated that the filming injected approximately $500,000 into the local economy of Mt. Washington Valley over the past three weeks. That amount included accommodations for the actors and crew, the pay for the 20 local residents hired to work on the film, and approximately $3000 for Bartlett fire fighters who extinguished a fire behind L.A. Drew that was used for one scene in the film. He said other scenes had been shot at the Shannon Door Pub, Wentworth Hotel, the Carter Notch Inn and the Jack Frost Shop in Jackson; the Conway Police Station, the District Court of Northern Carroll County and Cafe Noche in Conway, and some scenes in Freedom. The Jackson Covered Bridge will appear in a car chase scene in which a bread truck from the Wildcat Tavern blocks the entrance of the one-lane bridge. “You don’t have too many scenes [in movies] where someone has to stop because of a one-lane covered bridge, so it’s been nice to incorporate something like that,” said Powers. Powers said history was made here over the past few weeks with the use of digital photography for the film. “It’s the first studio-backed feature to be shot in this format,” said Powers. The format allows for on-the-spot editing on a laptop computer, and also enables a production company to shoot faster and to wrap up the movie quicker. “The advantage is that when you are done shooting you have a video to video transfer, so you’re able to manipulate the image much better and more precisely than you are with a film image. So that translates to getting it on to film quicker and being able to fix and manipulate things easier,” said Powers. Both Powers, 38, and Clapp, 52, attended Kennett High, although Clapp graduated from a prep school in Connecticut. Powers has established a writing scholarship at KHS. “I first saw Gordon on stage at the Eastern Slope Playhouse [in North Conway] when I was 12 years old, and I said to myself (with no exaggeration), ‘Some day, I’m going to make films, and I’m going to use him.’ This is the first opportunity for us to work together,” said Powers, who studied at the University of Southern California — the same university that acclaimed director Steven Spielberg attended. 1991 KHS grad Anna Cranage, formerly of Freedom and now an aspiring actress and comedian in Los Angeles, appears in the film as a sales clerk. Many KHS students also appear in the prom scene that was shot at the Wentworth. In “Skeletons,” Clapp plays a character named Dan Welch, who ships palettes around the world for giant turbines. The John F. Chick & Son plant in Silver Lake was used as the setting for those scenes in the movie. This is the first acting opportunity back in the Valley for Clapp since he shot the independent John Sayles film, “The Return of the Secaucus Seven,” back in 1978 with fellow Mt. Washington Valley Theatre Company cast members. That film was released in 1980 to critical acclaim. As with that film, Clapp says he looks forward to seeing local landmarks in the forthcoming film. “It’s going to be neat to see places and local people in the Valley, although I’m prepared that things may be a bit out of sync — I remember with ‘Secaucus,’ they’d show two characters going out for a walk in one scene and somehow they’d end up somewhere where you know they couldn’t have possibly walked to in real life, so it ought to be fun,” said Clapp, who plays Det. Greg Medavoy on “NYPD Blue.” Clapp and Williams worked together seven years ago on the TV Movie of the Week, “Bonds of Love.” Williams — who acted in New Hampshire previously in Jay Craven’s “Where the Rivers Flow North” in the early 1990s — said he enjoys making independent films every few years, because generally, they can tackle more complex, darker issues that are not marketed for a mass market. They therefore are produced without the pressure and lack of artistic freedom that goes with bigger budget studio movies. “It’s very exciting, and it rejuvenates me,” said Williams, noting that in bigger budget films, cast members shoot “about a page and a half a day, whereas here, we have been shooting up to seven pages a day.” Hamilton said this is the first time she has been this far north in New England, but said that she has “fallen in love ” with the Valley. Clapp quipped that that was only because Hamilton — an avid fly-fisherwoman — had caught a 20-inch landlocked salmon in nearby Sebago Lake which was now being dressed at a Valley taxidermist’s. When not shooting her scenes, Hamilton said she had also gone outlet shopping. “Honestly, I am totally in love. How come I never knew about this? There’s too much here that appeals to me.” Editor’s note: WMWV 93.5-FM is scheduled to broadcast an interview with Gordon Clapp May 26 at 5:05 p.m.