HOLLYWOOD NORTH. The garage on the Heffron property on Winter St. has been painted and is being decked out to serve as a movie location for a Hollywood film starring Jennifer Lawrence, Robert DeNiro and Bradley Cooper. Filming will take place here in March. (Bob Turosz Photo)
By BOB TUROSZ
NORTH READING — Kay’s Baptism, a major motion picture starring Jennifer Lawrence, Robert DeNiro and Bradley Cooper will be filming in several Massachusetts communities this winter, including North Reading.
The makers of the 20th Century Fox film have chosen the garage on the old Heffron property on Winter Street, next to Heav’nly Donuts as one of the film’s locations. The garage has been painted white and lettered “Rudy’s” in preparation for the filming, scheduled to take place on March 2 through March 4, March 9, 10 and again on March 23.
As a result, the shooting will cause a traffic disruption and Winter Street will be closed to traffic from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the above dates except for local residents. Local residents will need to enter and exit Winter Street from Park Street. Emergency vehicles and school buses will also be able to access Winter Street via Park Street. From Route 28, traffic will be detoured at the intersection of Main and Winter streets. (Kitty’s corner), down Route 28, to a left at the Cota Funeral Home and back to Route 62. Filming will occur for an approximate period of 12 hours a day and digital signboards have already been posted on surrounding streets with updated road closure information.
The North Reading police will be on location to assist with traffic control and to allow essential personnel to come and go freely from the neighborhood. The police department is urging all residents to seek alternate routes during the filming and commuters should expect delays. Residents can visit www.kaysbaptismlocations.tumblr.com each day for the most up to date film news and road closures.
Town Administrator Michael Gilleberto said the filmmakers will pay for the cost of police traffic details during the filming and when necessary, to station fire department personnel on the west side of town in case of an emergency, as well as all town other costs. The filmmakers will also utilize a portion of Ipswich River Park in early March as a staging area for their crews. But the park will remain open to the public and there will be designated parking for the public.
The filmmakers are also making a $2,000 donation to the North Reading Community Impact Team and are paying $3,000 for the use of Ipswich River Park.
Selectman Joe Foti, who is DPW superintendent in Chelsea, has previous experience when film crews have come to that community to film movie locations. Fourteen films have been shot there in the last four years, he said, and the filming schedule changes quite often at the last minute due to weather or other unforeseen events. A day of rain can push the entire schedule off, he said.
The film’s assistant location manager Joe Piasecki said they are working “in full compliance” with town hall and the NRPD to lessen the impact on the Winter Street neighborhood. Information about the filming and traffic detour and the filming schedule was delivered to neighborhood homes on Sunday.
The movie has an alternate working title of Joy. According to imdb.com, it’s the story of Joy Mangano, a struggling Long Island single mom who invented the Miracle Mop.
