Indie film scenes use Massena as backdrop

MASSENA — Scenes familiar to village residents may soon be familiar to people across the country on the silver screen.

The bar at the Delmar Restaurant, showroom at Frenchie's Chevrolet and lanes at Bowlmor Lanes all will be featured in an upcoming independent film, "For Ellen," directed by So Yong Kim and starring Paul Dano, who is best known for his role as Dwayne in "Little Miss Sunshine."

"The scene here, I think it happened accidentally," said Robert V. Small, co-owner of Bowlmor Lanes. "They were bowling here. I'm right down the road from the Blue Spruce, where they were staying. They were looking for something to do and I'm open late at night so they came in. They approached me about doing a scene, I guess, two weeks ago."

The crew was in Massena for a few weeks, staying at the Blue Spruce Motel, eating at Coach's Corner and Common Grounds and taking in the snowy scenery.

"We've been recovering from a really short but intense shoot. It was an awesome shoot in a really super town," producer Jen E. Gatien said. "The town, I think the way it's shot is going to be absolutely stunning with the snow and lots of shots of the river."

The film follows the story of a young musician, Joby, who has to return to his hometown to sign divorce papers and meet the daughter that he's always known about, but never met.

A pupil from Nightengale Elementary, Shaylena Mandigo, was selected to play the part of Joby's daughter, said Ms. Gatien, an Ontario native.

"I think it really helps when you're using a local child; they're comfortable. She went to her own bed at night. She got to hang out with Paul," Ms. Gatien said. "Child actors have a tendency to want to please and ham it up for the camera."

Massena was what the crew was looking for for the film, but it was not without difficulties. The town's remoteness made it hard for actors and crew from New York City or Los Angeles to come out here; they had to go through Montreal and clear customs several times.

The filmmakers came in January to scout around for locations, but ended up adding venues once they arrived to film. Ms. Gatien has relatives in Massena, Douglas E. and Michael E. Kassian, which is what brought them here in the first place.

"I knew from Doug's perspective and his history with the town that he had an infrastructure of knowing literally everybody," Ms. Gatien said. "Whatever we needed would be literally a matter of a phone call."