Our grandbaby chose to ignore her delivery date after all, and so our family continues to wait with bated breath for this precious little girl to arrive. My son and daughter-in-law have wisely chosen not to share her name with anyone until she gets here (we are an opinionated bunch, and they are worried there will never be a consensus) and so we continue to call her “Twinkle-Toes” the nickname my husband gave her after seeing an ultra-sound where she was wiggling her little feet. In Sugarcreek, the bank robbery scene is being filmed. One of the local banks has been kind enough to allow the crew to film there. It is interesting to me that the last scene filmed will be the first one movie-goers will see. As a writer, I have the luxury of describing in as many words as I need, a characters’ back story and thoughts. But the director and actors must “show” everything. An emotion I can describe in depth, must be shown, in milliseconds, on an actor’s face. My heroine Rachel’s back story–the day her daddy gets shot and she stops being a little girl–has to be shown, not told. It is to be […]

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One of the many things I was surprised by during the filming is how scenes are not done in chronological order at all. The reason is that this makes it possible to cluster scenes together that take place in the same location. The reason this is necessary is because there are massive trailers that accompany the crew. The trailers have rooms for wardrobe, makeup, and places for the actors to rest and to dress, plus a couple of restrooms. Moving the trailers and setting them up is a major undertaking. Today was devoted entirely to the action that happens inside of Rachel’s “house.” Some of this involves a big knock-down fight scene using a stunt double for Sarah Lancaster. This worked out well because we had rain today and the timing was perfect for indoor scenes. I now know how cramped it can get when interior scenes are filmed and decided that this would be a good day to get some research done on this non-fiction book I’m writing on Amish Parenting. This was a pleasant task because it involved visiting the homes of a couple excellent Old Order Amish mothers with whom I’ve been friends for several years. I […]

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WOW!!!  The most exciting scenes of all were filmed today!!  So here’s what happened: When I arrived, the props people had “burned” Effie and Vernon’s real farmhouse we’re renting. This was done with blackened paper stuck on white clapboards. It really did look like they had experienced a fire. Sugarcreek’s intrepid fire department were there with the fire truck and hoses strung all over the yard. These volunteer fire fighters were wearing heavy fire suits and helmets in 80+ degree weather. Then tonight, they filmed the fire scene with the mock up of a portion of Effie and Vernon’s house that they’ve been building in a field all week long. A special effects crew was hired to come in and handle the fire. Of course, several members of the fire department were there with fire extinguishers just in case anything went wrong. I watched as the special effects people set up pipes with propane flames shooting up behind the windows, as well as setting a wall behind the window afire by applying some sort of rubber cement-like stuff and setting it ablaze. While all this fire was going on, Aunt Anna, is trapped and afraid and screaming for help and […]

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Today is the day in the script where the “media” discovers who Joe Matthews really is and descends on his cabin. This involved borrowing local news vans and engaging plenty of extras who dressed up as news reporters and repeatedly ran up the hill while pretending to snap pictures and shout questions at Joe. They did a great job–but I think some of them got a whole lot more exercise than they were expecting! Today we got to see the “clean-cut” Joe where he shaves off his beard and faces the media as himself. I had gone to visit some Amish friends in the neighborhood, but one of the extras said that the look he gave Rachel as she sees him clearly for the first time, pretty much melted every female heart there. In real life, the Old Order Amish mother of the man who owns the farm where the movie is being filmed came to watch. She had read the book long ago, and was excited that much of the movie was being filmed on her son’s farm. She also asked me who the little Amish boy was she saw running around. The little “Amish” boy happened to be […]

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