Girl, Interrupted Screening Hooray for Harrisburg!

Girl, Interrupted Screening
Hooray for Harrisburg!
by Lisa Hummel

There was a red carpet. There was a search light. There were long, stretch limousines. Even Winona Ryder was there — if only via the nearly life-size movie posters with her image and the TV screens that aired sneak footage of her newest movie, Girl, Interrupted. But, with or without her — and the other members of the cast and crew, including Angelina Jolie, Whoopi Goldberg, and director James Mangold — the show did go on, and it went on in style.

While national release of the movie was not slated until January 14, Columbia Pictures permitted a preview screening at the new Hoyt’s Cinema 14 in Susquehanna Township on January 11. The evening began with a glittering reception (held to benefit The Mental Health Association in Cumberland, Dauphin, and Perry Counties) at the Tyco Building during which locals involved in the shoot — including extras, representatives from the Pennsylvania Film Office, the state, and the City of Harrisburg, and casting directors Sharon Hillegass and Randy Furr — locals supportive of the film, and film buffs alike had the opportunity to enjoy Pennsylvania’s version of a Hollywood premiere.

By now, the story behind the movie is more like some mantra than news: it is based on the real-life literary account of Susanna Kaysen, it was filmed primarily in Harrisburg’s State Hospital for nearly four months in the area last year, it was the starting ground for hundreds of aspiring ‘actors’ in the area, providing the chance to be an extra in a major motion picture — some four seconds of screen time for 16 hours of work. In the time that it was here, the filming touched enough lives to make it seemingly possible that everybody in the area has a story — or at least knows someone who does.

Some of the extras who found themselves smiling from the big screen were in attendance at the reception and — regardless of the long hours and the time spent waiting around — the general consensus was that their time on the set was one unforgettable life experience.

“I had a great time,” said Christina Myers, who played student-nurse Margie in the film, “I had the opportunity to work one-on-one with Whoopi Goldberg, Winona Ryder, and Angelina Jolie — I learned a lot.”

Myers, who has marginal screen time as an extra, is currently in New York trying to make her way as a working actress. As for her time on the set, she took every opportunity to use the occasion for her benefit, studying and talking with the cast and crew around her. “It was fun to work with actors as good as they are,” she said, adding that, as for director Mangold, she had nothing but praise. “He worked with me quite a bit, he was very open to ideas and open to letting our own personalities come through.”

As for seeing herself on the big screen, Myers was somewhat awestruck. “It was so great,” she said, speaking on both her screen time and the experience as a whole, “I don’t know if I could ask for anything else.”

Since Girl’s arrival and subsequent departure — and the $8 to $10 million dollar economic boost it left behind — Harrisburg has become the stomping ground for other flicks: local filmmaker Eric Spaar’s independent, Sees in Secret, which is being premiered at month’s end, Nora Ephron’s John Travolta-driven Numbers, which left the city at the beginning of winter, and transplanted Harrisburg-area native Greg Swartz’s Hollywood, PA which is slated to begin principal production in early spring.

The success of Girl, Interrupted remains to be seen. Who knows if it will live up to its billing as the female version of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. And while Angelina Jolie has already been nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her role by the Golden Globe Awards, who knows if the film will garner any other critical acclaim or receive any Oscar nods. What we do know is that if you look hard enough, you’ll see your city on the big screen, and, with or without the presence of the ‘stars’, with or without the mention of Harrisburg in the final credits, the filming of the feature was a one-of-a-kind experience for all involved.

According to the buzz in Hollywood, Pennsylvania’s getting a reputation as a ‘film-friendly’ state. So, move over, Los Angeles. Watch out, New York. It might not be too long before we get used to this movie-making thing.