Grammatically, it might have been just as well to title this post: "Jack & Norma Is in the House." That's because it is actually a film title as well as the name of the two characters who took up their well-plotted positions and marks in one of the upstairs guest bedrooms the weekend before last.
This was the latest student production to film here, masterfully managed and crafted and produced and executed by aspiring filmmakers from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. It's a dialogue between John F. Kennedy, Jr., and Norma Jeane Mortenson, who of course is better known as Marilyn Monroe.
From 6 am to 6 pm that Saturday and Sunday, the Roediger House came to brilliant life while abuzz with the determined activity of these remarkable artists. Each time we get to serve as a location, I get swept up by how special it is to witness all that they manage to make happen, and the way that they go about it, while also quickly depleting my preferred list of adverbs and adjectives to somehow convey it out to you lovely readers and interested others.
Given that the UNCSA campus is just over a mile from here, but also because the house can pretty easily accommodate their needs, it makes me all the more grateful that the Roediger House was discovered by the first crew that shot here in November 2024. I've loved seeing their finished products for over 20 years, as they are presented each spring at the conclusion of the academic year...and now, to be so intimately present while they work their creative magic: it's exceedingly awesome and rewarding.
There are stolen moments I bear witness to, as I drift around the periphery of these creative endeavors. Like an intense flash of brotherly unity and quiet respect as the director and 1st AD wrapped up a quick sidebar conference down at the bottom of the stairs, before heading back up for the next set-up and take; or the deeply-felt joy at the remarkably perfect gift the crew gave the director once filming wrapped. There is a lot of joy and respect and thanksgiving ferried on the backs of two simple words: “You guys…”
And darn it: these guys just keep being the nicest, most professional, most considerate guests while they work. With each successive production and its associated crew members, I've no doubt that throwing wide the front doors for a good film location time will become my permanent state.
Reckon that's why another film will be shot here this coming weekend!
And it does not always play out to where I can make a sweet treat happen, but this time things fell into place, so Sunday there were some fresh cinnamon-chai oatmeal cookies ready for them once the lunch break wrapped up.
Based on: "Caramel-Chai Oatmeal Cookies," in Cuisine at Home, September/October 2013, p. 47.
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