Photos by John Estridge
A Reporter’s Notebook by John Estridge
Vehicles from the not-too-distant past were plying Union Street between Main and Market streets in downtown Liberty Wednesday morning, July 14.
A couple of police officers walked from the front of the courthouse east on the sidewalk past two vintage police cruisers parked in the angle parking in front of the courthouse. A blonde woman in a colorful dress stood near the south side of Union Street and then walked past the two police officers who stopped near their police cars. She continued walking until she was out of sight along the sidewalk going south toward Seminary Street.
Just on the street off the north sidewalk along Union Street near the Liberty Restaurant was a camera, large light and more equipment. West of that along the sidewalk was a man sitting in front of a control board.
After the blonde woman passed the officers, things stopped. The people walked back to where they started. Vehicles came back to their starting points. They then waited for more cues taken to them by a woman in a headset wearing a red top. The police officers listened to another woman who stood near the Welcome to Union County sign on the northwest part of the courthouse square. She seemed to be doing double duty: giving the two police officers information, helping them with their cues to begin walking and making sure no one from the public ventured into the blocked-off area while the filming was taking place.
It was not the hottest July day in Indiana, but the sun was hot especially for the young, blonde woman who spent most of the time standing on asphalt waiting to stroll south just a few yards. Periodically, while she waited, another woman would walk out onto the street, fix the blonde woman’s hair and touch up her makeup.
Then, things would begin again, seemingly the same as the last time. The vehicles driving past the intersection, the police walking east down the sidewalk and then the blonde woman taking her few steps south again.
“Bones and All” is said to be a romance horror film set in the 1980s during the Reagan years. It is based on a book by the same name written by Camille DeAngelis. In the movie, a couple is taking a cross-country trip.
Liberty was not Liberty Wednesday. Instead, it was a village in Minnesota, along with the Minnesota flag.
The movie is under the direction of Italian director Luca Guadagnino and written by Ohio native David Kajganich. This is the third movie the two men have collaborated on with all three movies being within the horror genre. The other two are “Bigger Splash” (2015) and “Suspiria” (2018).
“Bones and All” stars Taylor Russell and Timothee Chalamat.
Crew members parked in the Liberty Church of Christ parking lot near the intersection of West Seminary and Main streets. They then walked over to various staging points around the blocked off section of Union Street.
While waiting for their part in the process, crew members walked around the streets circling the courthouse looking at the courthouse and entering into different shops on Union Street.
Some of the crew members were working before 9 a.m. Some merchants on Union Street who interacted with crew members said all of them were nice and gracious.
About 11 a.m., things started to pick up. Semis pulled in with regularity at the parking lot on the Union County Foundation property. People helped the trailers regurgitate their contents with action taking place right there readying the people for the ensuing filming. The police officers were already in uniform but the people near the open trailers put numerous finishing touches to the clothing, hair and makeup.
Various drivers pulled up in vintage vehicles, leaving the vehicles at different parking places on either side of Union Street and on the west side of Market Street near its intersection with Union Street.
Other males went along the cars and took off Ohio license plates and put Minnesota license plates in their stead.
People with the filming company did light construction work in and around the Liberty Restaurant.
Local police officers from the Liberty Police Department and Union County Sheriff’s Department went to the various barricades around the area, manning them and keeping the area clear for those working on the film. The police officers were off duty and being paid by the company producing the film. No local tax money went into the movie’s security.
Apparently, some locals did not get the memo and tried to enter that part of Union Street on foot but were politely told they could not until there was a break in the filming. Everyone took it well and often slipped the ubiquitous Smart Phone out to take a few photos.
Vehicles heading north and south on U.S. 27 often slowed to take a gander at the sights just down the street to their east.
A few people were standing off Woodruff’s parking lot enjoying the very unusual summer day in Liberty.
“This is great for Liberty,” more than one said.
And that is what officials hope. That this will lead to other filming crews wanting to shoot scenes in Liberty and Union County. Liberty and the various other small towns as well as the countryside are seemingly picture perfect for films of a certain genre. Liberty’s downtown had to be bucolic to those from other places with its Civil War cannon, its courthouse, the tree-filled courthouse square complete with a log cabin as well as the pretty downtown buildings that still have all their teeth as people say about not having buildings torn down within the downtown area leaving gaps.
The “Bones and All” film crew were scheduled to film at a house in rural Union County as well as the old store in Abington. Filming has already occurred in various locales around the Tri State including Cleves and Cincinnati and should continue through the summer.
According to www.looper.com, the expected “Bones and All” release date is late 2022 or early 2023.
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