HBO film to feature local sites
'Empire Falls' to include scenes at church, diner
Copyright © 2003 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.
A Waterville church and a Winslow diner are about to become famous as prominent shooting locations for the HBO movie, "Empire Falls."
Ryan-Marie Maroney, owner of Beešs Snack Bar, stands in the Winslow restaurant. click to enlarge
Bee's Snack Bar on Lithgow Street in Winslow will be used for a doughnut shop in the film, based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Richard Russo about a small Maine mill town.
Another featured site in the movie is the Second Baptist Church at 172 Water St. in the South End area of Waterville.
"I'm happy and I'm blessed and nothing but good things have happened since I got here," Bee's owner Ryan-Marie Maroney said Tuesday at the diner.
Maroney, 25, took over the small family restaurant in June and never expected it would house movie stars several weeks later.
"On Sept. 9 they're dressing the set and they'll start shooting Sept. 10, the first day of filming for the movie," she said. "Paul Newman (playing Max Roby) and his son (Miles Roby, played by Ed Harris) will be in here, having a doughnut and it's a comical part of the movie."
Maroney said she will be paid well for the four days of shooting, during which she will close the diner. The money will help her to buy needed equipment for the business, she said.
"I plan on getting a new oven, another little grill and a dishwasher," she said, beaming. "I think it's enough so that I'll be able to coast a little while so I'll be here next year, and the publicity will help too."
The Second Baptist Church and an adjacent house on Water Street in Waterville will be featured as a Catholic church and rectory, respectively, in the film. Both Max and Miles Roby help paint the church as part of the story line in the novel, "Empire Falls."
"They're going to film three days," the church's pastor, William Gilbert said Monday. "They're going to take all the siding off the front and left side of the church because they're going to be painting it in the movie."
The 153-year-old church with a congregation of between 24 and 30 people is located about two blocks from a house on Carrean Street where a private house will be used in the film for the setting of Miles Roby's boyhood home.
Gilbert said movie officials plan to make changes to the inside of the old church for the filming and then put it all back together afterward.
"Everything in the church is like it was years ago," Gilbert said. "I don't think anything has been changed — not even the lights."
He said the church's Board of Directors and parishioners are excited about their church's being featured in the movie.
"I think it's a good shot in the arm," he said. "It lifts us all up. They're happy for this little church down on the South End. It's an interesting neighborhood."
He said that he'd love to have curious movie fans visit the church after the filming and ultimately stay — and boost the size of the congregation.
"I'm praying that maybe — just maybe — people will come back to see what the original church is like," he said.
At Bee's Snack Bar Monday afternoon, William McLain, owner of McLain's Roofing, of Fairfield, ordered up a late lunch and reflected on what it will mean to have Paul Newman and Ed Harris on the premises next month.
It's great," he said. "It'll probably boost up the business."
Maroney said she's sure someone has been watching over her from above lately.
"I feel lucky," she said. "God loves me, that's all I have to say."
The diner and church are among about 38 Maine locations to be used in the movie, including Patrick's Pizza (formerly Debe's store) and the Redington Home, both in Skowhegan.
Amy Calder — 861-9247
acalder@centralmaine.com