Serena

Tomorrow, Saturday October 5th, is the last day of filming. Everyone looks forward to this day, but there’s some bitter sweetness to it as well. For weeks everyone has worked together, eaten together, and shared our lives with one another. A movie set becomes a mini-family. Now, with things drawing to a close, we know there are those on this particular set we’ll probably never see again. The director is hopeful that he’ll have some rough footage put together by tomorrow evening to show us. I’m dying to see it–but have decided to go home a day early. Some things are simply more important than movies…… Today is our baby granddaughter’s “due” date, which is a worry to me. When I came up here for the movie, I planned on simply jumping in the car the minute I got the call to come home, no matter what was going on in Sugarcreek. The crew knew I might disappear at any moment and they understood why. Unfortunately, there was one major flaw with this plan. It is nearly impossible to get AT&T phone service in Ohio Amish country. This has made things difficult for the crew and it made getting a […]

Yesterday was cold and overcast, and I had not taken a sweater, so I was chilly all day. Today, I dressed warmly–as did most of the crew–and, of course, it was broiling and sunny all day and many of us spent the day slightly miserable. The yellow jackets happily joined us and added their buzzing, nosy, presence to our party. I was chatting with the chief of police and not paying attention as I started to take a sip of coffee. Someone standing nearby stopped me and pointed out that I was about to inhale the yellow jacket that was exploring the inside of my cup. My favorite scene today was when Chloe (Joe’s uppity agent from L.A.) verbally lashes out at Aunt Anna (who has the mental capacity of a child) and hurts Anna’s feelings. Marianna Alacchi (“Homicide: Life on the Street”) who is the actress portraying Anna, does a wonderful job portraying a mentally-challenged adult. Joe defends Anna and tells Chloe to never talk to her like that again. One of the reasons I love this scenes is because the script-writer includes a great pay-back on the part of Anna later on in the movie. Other members of […]

We filmed out at the farmhouse today. The main scene they worked on was the one I opened with in the book–where Rachel (Sarah Lancaster) is trying to talk her three elderly aunts into closing the Sugarhaus Inn. They are reluctant to do so, and try to deflect her request. Finally Bertha (Kelly McGillis) agrees to close down the Inn–under one condition–that if God brings a stranger to their door that needs their help, they will not turn that stranger away. In the background is a wooden plaque with the scripture about entertaining angels unaware hanging on the wall. Rachel (Sarah) is not happy with this and starts to protest, but Bertha (Kelly) stands up and in that perfect Amish accent says “This is scripture, Rachel, and we will not compromise on doing God’s will.” With that, yet once again, I was clawing in my purse for a tissue,so amazed to hear words I had written come to life.  One of the crew members, a man of faith, came over, gave me a hung and whispered in my ear “We will not compromise on doing God’s will.”  Of course that made me tear up even more. Honestly–in my normal life […]