Clayton hosts second feature film

CLAYTON -- It's not every day that a town like Clayton plays host to the production of a feature film, but this is the second time local filmmaker Mark Grady took to Clayton's streets to make a movie.

"Whistling Pines," set to premier at the Clayton Center October 14, is a southern comedy about a town that tries to turn the tables on a TV news reporter out to make fun of the town's eccentric characters.

Grady's first film, "Blaire's Bridge," was a drama, and he had originally planned to do his second film along the same vein, but his friends and fans were telling him different.

"You tell us all these funny stories all the time, you should do a comedy," Grady said people kept telling him. That's when he sat down and wrote the script for "Whistling Pines," whose characters are embellishments of people Grady has met over the years.

"I just like southern humor. I think you lose a little bit of that southern living with all the people moving in," Grady said. "The original positive things about the south have gone away . . . and that's why I think that people like traditionally southern humor films."

One of those positive things about the south is featured in a scene which takes place at Wendell's Aubrey's and Peedie's Grill, a diner that's been serving southern-style breakfast and lunch since 1979.

When Jones Lunch on Main Street was unavailable for an evening shoot, Grady contacted Peedie Edwards who was happy to lend them the space.

Grady was originally going to change the grill's name to Whistling Pines Diner, until he discovered that Peedie's was perfect as is.

"I found out that his late father and him had had this place for years. Because of the amazing history of this place, I said I just love the name as it is. I thought, you can't get any more of a small town southern name than that."

Edwards said he was happy to help out, and felt his grill fit in well with the southern picture of life Grady was trying to portray.

"(The Grill) is really important to Wendell," Edwards said.

"We've been here so long, we're established. I'm actually seeing kids that I waited on, I'm seeing their grandkids come through, which is neat."

Grady also shot scenes on site in Horne Square in downtown Clayton. He said the difference between shooting in a place like New York City and a place like Clayton is the way people react to the lights and cameras.

"We had to do a lot of takes because people would drive by and honk and yell out. It's not something they see everyday," Grady said.

"That's the fun part about it is to go to a small area that normally doesn't have the opportunity to have something like this happen."

And if Clayton is new to the world of moviemaking, so are its actors. Much of the cast and crew had participated in some capacity in the making of Grady's first film, but some had their first chance in front of the camera while filming "Whistling Pines."

"This was an extreme challenge," said T.C. Freeman of Mebane, an old friend of Grady's who produced "Blaire's Bridge" and plays Whistling Pines' mayor.

Freeman had been up for a smaller role when Grady encouraged him to play the mayor.

"I told Mark, our friendship aside, I wanted it to be the best product available, so if I'm not cutting the mustard be sure to tell me. He was good at giving me pointers," Freeman said.

Grady said he enjoys teaching new actors the ropes, as well as his two behind-the-scenes interns from Cleveland High School.

"One joy I get from this is, if you take somebody who would never have an opportunity to do something and watch them grow," Grady said.

Grady is looking forward to turning his production company, Webster Falls, into a full-fledged operation.

He has a few silent investors and managed to pay his actors and crew, an improvement from what he called a "subterranean budget" for his last film.

There are two more films already in script development.

"My goal is to turn this into a full operation where every movie we come out with is better than the last one."