Massena gets ready for its film close-up

MASSENA — Three filmmakers from New York City were in Massena this month making final plans for an independent movie they will be filming here about a rock star returning to a small town to meet the 6-year-old child he fathered before attaining fame.

The film, "For Ellen," was written and is being directed by So Yong Kim, who is co-producing the film with her husband, Bradley Rust Gray, and Cornwall, Ontario, native Jen E. Gatien.

Actor Paul Dano will play rocker Joby Taylor. Mr. Dano, perhaps best known on the big screen for his roles as Dwayne in "Little Miss Sunshine" and as brothers Paul and Eli Sunday in "There Will Be Blood," has been involved in several independent films.

Olivia Thirlby will play his girlfriend. Ms. Thirlby appears in the 2009 HBO series "Bored to Death" and was the main character's best friend in the 2007 film "Juno."

Casting continues for several of the other major roles.

Mr. Gray and Ms. Kim spent a recent day at Nightengale Elementary School looking for a young girl who can play the role of Ellen in the film.

"The kids were great," Ms. Kim said.

Mr. Gray said he and his wife spent much of the day in the school's physical education class searching for the right look for the Ellen character.

"Later we met with some of the kids individually. The school principal talked to their parents first so we had permission before we talked to the kids. Most of the kids were into it," he said.

Casting calls for other parts to be filled by local actors likely will be in late January.

"We've looked at our shooting dates. The film is half cast, and we will have to do some local casting. There will be definitely be a need for some local people to work on the film as well," she said. "We'll be looking for a tow-truck driver, people in the mall, a receptionist at the motel."

Ms. Kim said she hopes to start filming at the beginning of February.

Ms. Gatien brought her co-producers to Massena this fall after contacting her cousins, Massena residents Douglas E. and Michael E. Kassian.

"I knew we wanted to shoot in a small town. So Yong had been location scouting for a while. We really wanted snow," Ms. Gatien said. "We were looking for a small, intimate, forgotten town that used to be thriving. Massena worked for us."

She said she thought of the north country after her first read of the script.

"Having grown up here, I know what the winters are like," Ms. Gatien said. "Very few films have captured that. There's a lot of beauty here. I'm really excited about coming back to where I am from to make a film."

Ms. Kim and Mr. Gray attended college in Chicago and she said they took many trips to visit his relatives living on farms in the Midwest. She said it came down to making the film in either Massena or Wabash, Ind.

"Everything we were looking for we found in Massena. Some locations you try to make do. Massena seems like it will add to our story. We looked at a motel, a bar, a diner. We walked around downtown and across the bridge. There's a lot of texture here," Ms. Kim said.

Massena gained some notice in the 2008 film "Frozen River," about human smuggling across the St. Lawrence River near the village, but was actually filmed near Plattsburgh.

Ms. Kim and her two sisters were raised by a single mother, and the inspiration for her latest film came from her own experiences.

"When I was young, I always imagined what I would say to our father if he ever returned. I took this as the premise and the seed for my main character," she said. "The story is about a young man's return to his family and how he copes with this confrontation."

Other movies Gray and Kim have made include "The Exploding Girl" and "Treeless Mountain,"which won several film festival awards.

The filmmakers, scheduled to return to Massena in late January, said the film should bring 15 to 30 people to Massena for about a month this winter.

Ms. Kim said her plans call for launching the film at the Sundance Film Festival in 2011. That will be key as the producers hope to sell their film to a major distributor so the story shot in Massena can be brought to theaters around the country.

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Film team brings wealth of experience

The following are biographies of some of those involved in "For Ellen":

Paul Dano

Since appearing as Howie Blitzer in "L.I.E.", Mr. Dano has played Dwayne in the feature film "Little Miss Sunshine" and Eli and Paul Sunday in Paul Thomas Anderson's "There Will Be Blood." He is also active on stage, and has appeared in several Broadway productions including "A Christmas Carol," "Inherit the Wind," "A Month In The Country," "A Thousand Clowns at the Roundabout Theatre" and the Ethan Hawke directorial debut "Things We Want" during its 2007 off-Broadway run. As a side project, he also provides vocals and lead guitar for the band Mook.

So Yong Kim

"For Ellen" will be Miss So Yong Kim's third feature film. Her critically acclaimed second feature, "Treeless Mountain" was released by Oscilloscope Laboratories and received numerous awards worldwide. Her first feature, "In Between Days," was acclaimed by critics and won the Special Jury Prize at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival along with the International Critics' Prize at Berlin. Kino International. She has produced two films by Bradley Rust Gray: "Salt" and "The Exploding Girl."

Bradley Rust Gray

Mr. Gray's second directorial feature, "The Exploding Girl," starring Zoe Kazan and Mark Rendall, premiered at Berlin Film Festival and won the Best Actress Prize at Tribeca Film Festival. Mr. Gray's first narrative feature, "Salt," was filmed in Iceland and won the Caligari Film Prize for Innovative Filmmaking at Berlin in 2003. It was selected for over 20 international film festivals and won three more international awards. Mr. Gray has produced two feature films by So Yong Kim. "For Ellen" will be his third producing effort.

Jen Gatien

Jen Gatien has produced 12 features, among them are "Chelsea On The Rocks," directed by Abel Ferrara which premiered at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival as an official selection. The film was released this fall starring Ethan Hawke, Milos Forman, Dennis Hopper, and Grace Jones Her production company, DeerJen, also produced "Hounddog" which premiered at Sundance in 2006 and starred Dakota Fanning and Robin Wright Penn. She has three films in post-production.