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June 26, 2008

Andover on film again: Original independent screenplay filming downtown

By Judy Wakefield

There was no Jennifer Garner or Rob Lowe. But movie crews were back in Andover last Saturday, filming scenes for the first movie for a small, local production company.

Onlookers and extras were plentiful at last Saturday's filming at the bandstand in the Park at the corner of Chestnut and Bartlet streets, said producer Judy Coleman.

"Filming is going really well and it's being done all around here (the Andover area) because we want New England scenes and locals for the story," said Coleman of her movie, 27 Down.

It's an original character study of a Boston cop who hits and kills a child riding a bike but does not admit to the crime. The detective relocates to a small Maine town — the fictional name in the movie is Canada, Maine — and becomes the chief of police.

"Let's just say his life unravels and makes you wonder, 'How responsible would you be?" said Coleman, whose company is Wild Beagle Productions of North Andover.

Andover's bandstand was the setting for a gazebo in Canada, which in the movie had burned down but is rebuilt.

"The mayor, a judge and lots of people in town come out for this in the movie, so the Andover location was perfect," Coleman said.

Filming for 27 Down will continue in downtown Andover as a dinner scene is being filmed at Mawby's on Barnard Street on July 27 while Dylan's Bar & Grill on Park Street will serve as the location of a Boston bar for filming there on Aug. 3.

Coleman said both establishments have a distinctive New England feel to them and that's what she needs for most scenes.

She also plans to film this summer in a North Andover mini-mall and Haverhill gift shop, she said. Three to four months of editing will follow. Then, she hopes to sell her independent movie, which features actors from Billerica and Wakefield along with Julia Cook of Andover, to a distributor.

A Web site for Wild Beagle Productions features a provocative photograph of a young woman advertising 27 Down.

"When she was good, she was very good, but when she was bad, she was horrid" is written in tattoo script down the side of the woman's body.

It's simply an advertisement, Coleman said.

"There's no nudity, some (foul) language and smoking ... but it's not over the top," she said of her movie. The expected rating is for viewers over 13 or an R-rating.

The movie has no connection to another movie of the same name that came out in 1974.

"It's an original screenplay," Coleman said.

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Andover on film again: Original independent screenplay filming downtown
by By Judy Wakefield , , Thu Jun 26, 2008, 05:30 AM EDT
Arts/Entertainment

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