Our movie starts shooting today!

Hollywood again comes to quaint city
For all-American locale, Havre de Grace is 'perfect'
By Madison Park
BALTIMORE SUN
July 6, 2007

A psychological thriller begins filming next week in Havre de Grace - its Victorian architecture and homespun quality caught the moviemakers' eye.

The movie, titled From Within, is about a small town where it appears that teenagers are committing suicide.

It stars Thomas Dekker, who portrayed Zach on NBC's hit Heroes last season and will play the young John Connor in Fox's new television series, Sarah Connor Chronicles, based on the Terminator series.

Elizabeth Rice, who also stars in the film, has appeared in episodes of ER, Crossing Jordan and portrayed a teenage Natalie Wood in a biographical TV movie. And the director, Phedon Papamichael, is known for his cinematography in Walk the Line, Sideways and Pursuit of Happyness.

Havre de Grace, a city of about 11,000 in Harford County on the mouth of the Susquehanna River as it enters Chesapeake Bay, was chosen over 15 Maryland towns for the movie shoot.

"Havre de Grace fit what we needed the best," said Chris Gibbin, one of the movie's producers. "If you take a look at the town, there's no Starbucks, no McDonald's, no Target - there's no recognizable, national chain."

The film will be shot at locations throughout the city, including Havre de Grace High School, the police station, the Thomas J. Hatem Bridge, the St. James United Cemetery and parts of Washington Street, city officials said.

"The city won't be identified as Havre de Grace, but we will be in the credits," Mayor Wayne Dougherty said. "It's going to be a very exciting time for the city."

Filming is scheduled to start Wednesday and to last five weeks although the production staff will be in town for the next 10 weeks.

Havre de Grace has been in the spotlight before. Young Americans, a short-lived show on the former WB network about teenagers at a New England boarding school with Kate Bosworth and Ian Somerhalder, was shot there in 2000. And the Blenheim Mansion on Bulle Rock Golf Course was among several locations in Harford County used for the 2002 romantic drama Tuck Everlasting.

From Within, which Gibbin described as "more psychological and ... very little blood and guts," is expected to be in theaters next year.

The Maryland Film Office sent the producers photos of roughly 20 Maryland towns, including Havre de Grace, Cumberland and Crisfield.

"The script was set in a small town that visually needed to be pure Americana," said Jack Gerbes, director of the film office, "a town caught in time with a character and charm to it."

After a three-day scouting trip to Havre de Grace, the director and producers decided to film in the city. Financial incentives from the state including tax waivers and rebates also influenced the decision to film in Maryland, Gibbin said.

"It's really a town that's not just for tourists," Gibbin said. "It's hard to find that kind of place anymore. It's on the river, it's very beautiful. It adds up to being kind of perfect."