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Hugh Jackman makes a Neil Diamond-themed film in the Matawan car garage

Vaseline4 weeks ago

0 3 minutes read

Hugh Jackman makes a Neil Diamond-themed film in the Matawan car garage

Four minutes of reading

MATAWAN – One day during the summer, a young man walked into the Stillwell Garage, which has been repairing cars in Matawan for more than 70 years, to take some photos.

“He looked like a student doing a side project and making his own movie,” garage owner Chris Lacerre said. “We said to him, ‘Sure, why not?’ A lot of people probably would have waved him off, but I thought, what’s the harm?

The young photographer took his pictures and left.

“Then he came back with a bigger group,” Lacerre said.

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Turns out this wasn’t a college project. The photographer was part of the location crew for ‘Song Sung Blue’, a major motion picture starring Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson. The musical drama, based on a 2008 documentary, centers on the formation of a Neil Diamond tribute band by an oppressed Milwaukee couple and the midlife revival that followed. There is no release date yet.

On Monday, production crews descended on the garage, which is tucked away on Jackson Street, just a block west of Main Street. Filming started on Wednesday and will run through Friday, with the store closed all three days. After leaving Wednesday’s shoot, Jackman waved to the spectators gathered outside.

“When they come in, your whole world changes and very quickly – they don’t mess around,” Lacerre said. “The amount of equipment and manpower, the logistics of what they accomplish, is remarkable.”

He added: “It’s nice to be able to bring this to the community.”

The community should be used to it by now. This is the fifth high-profile film or television show to be shot on location in Matawan in the past five years.

“For this small town of two miles, there is so much produced,” says town historian Kurtis Roinestad. “Matawan has many unique features.”

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‘A film-ready city’

With a picturesque center with numerous well-preserved historic buildings and houses, Matawan has attracted the attention of filmmakers. When Netflix built a television and film studio on the site of the former Fort Monmouth in nearby Eatontown, “we became a movie town,” said Matawan Mayor Joe Altomonte.

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As explained by City Manager Ryan Michelson, Matawan officials passed an ordinance that streamlines the permits needed for filming – things like road closures and finding space for production trailers.

“It’s a way for producers to know that this is a place that is friendly to film productions,” Michelson said. “We will work with them.”

Examples galore:

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All these activities, Altomonte said, “put Matawan in the spotlight – in a good way.”

‘We love this wood paneling’

Familiarity with the area from a previous film shoot led the “Song Sung Blue” Matawan location team to scour Matawan for possible locations.

“They wanted to shoot a scene in the garage,” Lacerre said. “They were in our office and saw the wood paneling in the office and said, ‘We love this wood paneling.’”

Then Lacerre took them upstairs. Stillwell Garage, whose original owner was the brother of Lester Stillwell – a 12-year-old victim of the infamous 1916 Matawan Creek shark attack that inspired the book-length film “Jaws” – has decor-matching customer families going back three generations .

“It’s wall-to-wall wood paneling,” Lacerre said. “Very dated with a beautiful, vintage look. They saw that and it turned into them taking over the place. They came back with a bus full of people.”

Lacerre said the producers are compensating the store for the three-day closure.

“We explored the location and loved it,” says Fernanda Reuel, location assistant for the film crew. “It was what the script called for.”

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On Wednesday, as Lacerre and Matawan officials saw the bustle of the set along Jackson Street, they were asked if there were any Neil Diamond fans among them.

“Absolutely,” said Roinestad. “Who doesn’t?”

Jerry Carino is a community columnist for the Asbury Park Press, focusing on the interesting people, inspiring stories and pressing issues of the Jersey Shore. Contact him at [email protected].

Vaseline4 weeks ago

0 3 minutes read

Four minutes of reading

‘A film-ready city’

‘We love this wood paneling’

Vaseline

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