SARATOGA SPRINGS — There is no need to do a double take: that was Owen Wilson you just saw.
Over the next few weeks, the city will be home to comedic stars including Wilson, Michaela Watkins, Wendy McLendon-Covey and Stephen Root who are shooting a new independent film.
Blue Creek Pictures has confirmed that the city has been selected as a location for Brit McAdams’ picture “Paint.”
While the locations have not yet been disclosed, the plot has. The movie will center on the fictional character Carl Nargle, an artist who paints on Vermont’s Number 1 television show. Producer Rick Bosner describes the title character as having a “signature whisper keeping viewers from Pittsfield to St. Albans breathlessly hanging on his every stroke.”
But Nargle’s life falls apart when the station hires a younger, better painter.
For weeks, Hudson Valley Casting has been seeking extras for the film with an emphasis on men who are 65 years and older with comedic skills. Heidi Eklund, who heads Hudson Valley Casting, is also looking for Black male actors age 55 and older with comedic skills.
Chatter about the film has been quietly going on for weeks, with those working to arrange the film fearing that discussing it would “compromise the integrity” of the deal.
Annamaria Bellantoni, vice president of tourism at the Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce, helped to arrange the film locations with the help of the city and Discover Saratoga-Saratoga Convention and Tourism Bureau. She said while the locations will remain a secret – so that crowds don’t flock there and interrupt the action – she said the filmmakers will be working throughout the county. She also said that the city has received many requests for locations since the beginning of the year and that filming in and around the area is great for hotels, restaurants, short-term rentals and businesses in general.
“They are using our companies, our services,” Bellantoni said. “They are going out and doing what tourists do. It spills over into everything.”