Trending
LISBON -- A movie crew was in town last week scouting for locations to film "Roadkill McGillicutty."
Dave Lewton, owner of Lewton's Garage, said he talked with production crew officials on Wednesday to finalize plans to film some scenes at his garage on North Nelson Avenue. The scenes are to be of someone working on vehicles, and filming is expected to occur in the next week or two and take a half day.
Lewton said they were looking for a garage with a certain look, and his old garage apparently was determined to be suitable for that purpose.
The comedy is about Colt McGillicutty, who works for the county highway department, where one of his jobs is to dispose of roadkill, and the relationship with his taxidermist father. When local golden girl returns home following a bitter divorce, tensions escalate between Colt and his nemesis, fire chief Bill Devoe, who has his own plans for Bunny and the town.
It is set in the fictional town of Dallas Pike, W.Va. Officials have said they chose Lisbon for some of the scenes because it looks like West Virginia but is still close to Youngstown, where primary filming is to occur.
Village Councilman Peter Wilson said the production crew also checked out the Steel Trolley Diner, which has been closed for the past month, initially for a vacation and then personal reasons. The reopening date was moved back several times, and the diner was supposed to reopen last Wednesday but the latest sign on the door said it was closed "to welcome the the production crew from the motion picture Roadkill McGillicutty."
A second note on the diner door said they were interviewing for new workers and still planned to reopen this fall.
A production official told village council on Oct. 9 the movie would star an Oscar-winning actor, and unconfirmed reports around town say it may be Richard Dreyfuss, who won the Best Actor Oscar in 1977 for "The Goodbye Girl."
Wilson is excited the production crew has chosen Lisbon to film some of the movie, saying local restaurants and merchants are likely to benefit along with any local people they hire as extras, not to mention the community exposure.
"I think the economic benefits for the community are fantastic," he said.
This is the second autumn a movie has been filmed in Lisbon. Last October and November, filming for "Them That Follow" occurred in and around Lisbon. The film, a coming of age movie set in Appalachia and starring Walter Goggins, is scheduled to be released in 2019.