Stepford stars in area to film movie remake
Nicole Kidman, Bette Midler perform in Bedminster, sleep
at Bernards Hotel
The Bernardsville News
By SANDY STUART , Staff Writer 07/10/2003
BEDMINSTER TWP. - A picture-perfect barn complex
and sunny skies greeted Nicole Kidman and a host of Hollywood
actors this week, during the filming of a scene from the
new "Stepford Wives"
movie. Kidman, Bette Midler, Matthew Broderick, Glenn Close
and Jon Lovitz were among the stars who joined some 200 extras
- including many local residents - on a Larger Cross Road
estate.
The filming of the scene, which depicts a Fourth
of July fair in the fictitious upper-class town of Stepford,
began Monday morning amid heavy security provided by the
local police department. Filming continued throughout the
day Tuesday and was scheduled to wrap up yesterday afternoon,
Wednesday, assuming cooperative weather.
Many of the cast and crew members - including
Kidman, Midler and director Frank Oz - stayed in luxurious
rooms at the Olde Mill Inn in Bernards Township during the
filming, according to sources. They were said to have checked
out by Wednesday.
In the remake of the 1975 classic thriller,
Kidman plays the role of Joanna Eberhart, who has just moved
from Manhattan with her husband (Broderick) and children.
According to publicist Marsha Robertson, the scene in Bedminster
shows the Eberhart family meeting the townspeople of Stepford
for the first time at a July 4 celebration.
Among those they encounter are Bobbie Markowe
(Midler) and her husband (Lovitz), who are also newcomers
to Stepford; as well as the town matriarch, played by Close.
Other cast members include Faith Hill, Christopher Walken
and Bernardsville native Roger Bart, an original cast member
of the Broadway hit, "The Producers."
Hill and Walken did not appear in the Bedminster scene.
Rockwell Painting
According to Robertson, the Bedminster scene
shows "the perfect Fourth of July party. If Norman Rockwell
had painted the party, this is what it would look like." The
outdoor scene centers around a big red horse barn with crisp
white trim next to a riding ring. Children trot ponies around
the ring, while townspeople mingle at the lemonade stand,
bake sale and ring toss booth set up outside the barn.
Robertson said the barn and the fence around
the riding ring are draped in red, white and blue bunting,
American flags wave everywhere, and the set is festooned
with red, white and blue balloons.
Robertson said the 200 extras include about
30 local adults and about 40 local children between the ages
of 5 and 12.
She said the extras were chosen at a June 26
casting call at the Gill St. Bernard's School in Gladstone.
About 300 people applied as extras, Robertson said.
'Gorgeous Women'
Because Stepford is a town in which the wives
have been surreptitiously replaced by beautiful robots, the
extras include about 100 tall, slim, attractive women.
"There are a lot of gorgeous women here
- the extras who are playing Stepford Wives," said Robertson.
The filming of the July 4 scene officially began at around
8 a.m., but Robertson said both the stars and extras had
to be on the location by 6:30 for makeup and costumes. "There's
a lot of hair and makeup in the morning, because they have
to look perfect," she said.
"The clothes, put together by our costume
designer, Ann Roth, are fabulous," Robertson added.
She described the women's dresses as "the 1950s meets
the glamour of Hollywood." Robertson said the little
girls in the scene wear pretty sun dresses and the boys wear
shorts, polo shirts and tennis sneakers. "They're very
neat, as Stepford children would be," she observed.
Even the cars used in the filming are Stepfordish - which
is to say, they are exactly what one would see in the Somerset
Hills. Robertson said about 20 vehicles used in the scene
are owned by local residents, "so they can drive up
in their big SUVs and sports cars."
Tight Security
Not just anyone could drive up in their SUV
or sports car, however. Because it was a "closed set," considerable
effort was made to keep fans and curiosity seekers away from
the filming. Discreet "SW" signs with arrows were
posted along Route 202-206 and Lamington Road to direct cast
and crew members to the site.
But nobody else could get too close. A police
car was parked at the intersection of Lamington and Larger
Cross roads to keep an eye on motorists, and off-duty police
officers were hired for on-site security and traffic control
duty. Signs forbidding motorists from parking or even stopping
were posted along Larger Cross Road. However, there wasn't
much to see from the road, as most of the barn complex is
obscured by a thick stand of trees and brush.
A request by this newspaper to visit the set
was denied. During the filming, much of the cast and crew
reportedly stayed at the Olde Mill Inn off Route 202 in Bernards
Township, about a 15-minute drive from the set. However,
a representative from the inn declined comment on the celebrity
visits.
