• Ashecliffe starts filming | marcie

Film adaptation of Lehane’s novel a boon to the region

Martin Scorsese ate clams casino, New England clam chowder and Harvest Chicken during his first visit to Benjamin’s Restaurant in Taunton.

As local filming of his movie “Ashecliffe” began at the Whittenton Mills complex last week, the renowned director and his entourage established Benjamin’s as their favorite spot for a relaxing meal.

“They are very pleasant people, no demands,” said owner Diane Benjamin.

The silver screen has arrived in the Silver City, but the excitement of movie-making along with the presence of Scorsese, Leonardo DiCaprio, Ben Kingsley and the other actors has the entire region abuzz.

Not to mention the money being spent locally to support the production, from hiring police details for security to ordering pizzas from a local eatery to feed the crews.

“I have my camera ready. I’m hoping Leonardo comes in,” said Paula Nunes, co-owner of That’s Amore Brick Oven Pizza, a Taunton eatery that has fed the production crew seafood salads, pizzas and subs.

“Ashecliffe,” based on the best-selling novel “Shutter Island” by Dennis Lehane, is set in a 1950s mental institution and includes flashbacks to a Nazi concentration camp. Scorsese is using the old industrial buildings in the rear of the Whittenton Mills complex to replicate Dachau, a World War II concentration camp.

“I’m just waiting for someone to ask me what I did over spring break,” said Kelly Sullivan, 18, a Stonehill College freshman from Norwood who traveled to Taunton with two friends on Thursday hoping to see some celebrities.

Sullivan was at the mill gate with Maria Sousa, 19, of Dedham, who attends St. Anselm College, and Erin Brandt, 18, of Norwood, a freshman at Boston College, when a black Cadillac SUV drove into the complex. Actor Ben Kingsley could be seen in the back seat, wearing sunglasses.

They snapped a photo.

“We heard about the filming and it actually worked out that we came here,” said Sullivan. “None of our other friends are home on spring break this week.”

Andrew Bertino, 24, a Hanson native now living in Braintree, is an extra playing an SS guard at the concentration camp when it is liberated by American GIs.

“The experience is absolutely unique,” he said. “I saw, firsthand, Martin Scorsese directing Leonardo DiCaprio.”

During rehearsal, Bertino said, the extras were given instruction by a stunt coordinator, who fell off the roof for Martin Sheen in the Scorsese film “The Departed.”

Bertino is co-director of the Hanson Community Theater’s production of “Cyrano de Bergerac,” which is running this weekend and next.

Filmmaking, he said, was both thrilling and tedious.

“Snow machines, multiple cameras on dolly tracks, huge cranes with giant flags to block out the sun, hundreds of extras: it’s incredible,” he wrote in an e-mailed account.

But “that excitement makes up only about 10 percent of the day in actuality. Most of an extra’s time is spent waiting in line or hanging around in holding just waiting to be called to the set.”

Source

• Career Updates | marcie

The Chancellor Manuscript (2009) (announced) .... Peter Chancellor
Akira (2009) (announced) (rumored)
The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt (2009) (announced) (attached) .... Theodore Roosevelt
Shutter Island (2009) (pre-production) .... Teddy Daniels
Freedom Within the Heart (2008) (pre-production) .... Brian Boru
Revolutionary Road (2008) (post-production) .... Frank Wheeler
Body of Lies (2008) (post-production) .... Roger Ferris

• Buy the 11th Hour on DVD | marcie

Preorder the 11th Hour at our store. We appreciate anyone who, buys it from our Amazon Store. Thank you.

• Co-Stars | marcie

I found pics of Leo's upcoming co-stars. Zoe Kazan (Maureen Grube) and Carice Van Houten (Gretchen Ferris).

• Body Of Lies | marcie

The section for Body of Lies is now up. You can view the information on the film here.

The Body of Lies script and the Catch Me If you Can script are now up as well. Thanks to Ashley for donating them.