Enthrallingly realizing that life and love haven’t completely passed you by yet is one of the most important and intimate lessons that people will learn in their lives. Embracing the fact that your close friends and family are your biggest supporters, and are the key to fully appreciating life, is a crucial key in fulfilling your personal destiny. Brothers and actors Patrick and Paul Wilson emotionally embody the idea that the hometown of their relatives can further enrich their relationships and beliefs with their new comedy, ‘Big Stone Gap,’ which is set to be released in theaters tomorrow. The performers’ family has lived in the movie’s title town of Virginia for generations, so being able to return to the community to shoot the neighborhood-driven comedy was an intensely emotional and informative experience for them.
‘Big Stone Gap,’ which is set in the late 1970s, marks the feature film writing and directorial debuts of town native Adriana Trigiani, who based the script on her 2000 best-selling novel of the same name. The romantic comedy follows the dedicated Ave Maria Mulligan (Ashley Judd), who has lived her whole life in the small title coal-mining town. When she’s not making delivers from her family’s pharmacy to her neighbors, she directs the town’s annual Outdoor Drama, maintains a pure relationship with her longtime beau, the town’s band director, Theodore Tipton (John Benjamin Hickey) and exchanges good-natured barbs with her former classmate, Jack MacChesney (Patrick Wilson). Ave Maria also receives romantic advice from her friend Iva Lou Wade (Jenna Elfman), who works as Big Stone Gap’s Bookmobile librarian and also helps sell out performances of the Outdoor Drama. While she often fields multiple suitors herself, her personal vies on relationships quickly changes when she meets Lyle Makin (Paul Wilson).
Just as Ave Maria has resigned to live her life as the self-proclaimed town spinster, she’s caught off guard by a long-buried family secret and an unexpected marriage proposal. With everything she knows changing in front of her, Ave Maria realizes she can finally experience the triumph of true love and happiness.
Patrick and Paul generously took the time to sit down for an exclusive interview to talk about starring in ‘Big Stone Gap’ at the Ace Hotel in New York City. Among other things, the actors discussed that they were both drawn to star in the comedy, since their family comes from the town of Big Stone Gap, and they’re happy to support the area in any way possible; how they valued shooting the comedy on location in the title Virginia town with Trigiani, particularly since their grandparents knew her parents, and they always closely followed her career; and how one of the appeals of the story and movie is that it has a small town feel, which made it more natural to instantly bond with their co-stars, notably Judd and Elfman.
ShockYa (SY): Patrick, you played Jack MacChesney, and Paul, you portrayed Lyle Makin, in the upcoming romantic comedy, ‘Big Stone Gap.’ What was it about the characters, as well the film overall, that interested you both in taking on your roles?
Patrick Wilson: Well, our family’s from (Big Stone Gap); our father, grandfather and great-grandfather are all from the area. So the fact that there’s a book about the area, (laughs) and that they made a movie that’s based on that book, was great. We would have been happy to just be in the background.
Paul Wilson: I actually volunteered, because the place was like our Disneyland as we were growing up. Our dad was born there. Patrick, our brother Mark and I spent summers there with our grandfather. We also played golf there, and ran around the mountains like we were conquering the world.
So whenever there’s a subject about Big Stone Gap, it’s a special thing for us. Even being a part of the film in the capacity that I was was great. I was thinking, I’ll just go in to help, and do whatever I can, because it’s Big Stone Gap.
Patrick: Yes, so the fact that Adriana said she wanted him to play Lyle was pretty special. I’m glad that it took long enough to make the film for me to be old enough to play Jack-that’s the joke. (laughs)
SY: The comedy was shot entirely on location in Big Stone Gap, which is also Adriana’s hometown. Since your family has had roots in Big Stone Gap for generations, what was the experience of filming in the town?
Patrick: It’s the most personal movie that I’ve ever done. Since our father worked all of the time, we weren’t a family that took vacations to exotic places. We took vacations to Virginia, to see our grandparents on either side. So the fact that we shot a movie near where our grandparents live, and stayed in their house while we were filming, is just insane to me. There was never a moment that we took for granted, because we knew how special it was. These kinds of experiences almost never happen.
Paul: Aside from the emotional investment that we as a family have in the town, taking part in the film was great because we knew of Adriana through all of her successes. We knew of her work as a television writer, as well as a novelist.
Our grandparents also knew her parents. So we would frequently go back to Big Stone Gap, and our grandmother would have clippings and newspaper articles about Adriana. Our grandmother would say, “Look what Adriana’s done now.” (laughs) So we were constantly linked through those stories since high school.
So to ultimately go back and stay in (our family’s) house was so special. The only real sad part was that our grandparents weren’t there with us.
But overall, we had many great stories about being involved in this movie. One of the ones that comes to mind for me was when we first went to the production office right after we arrived in Big Stone Gap in mid-October of 2013. Most of the community helped with providing the wardrobe for the film, which is set in 1978. Most people don’t still wear 1978 clothing everyday.
Patrick: Most people. (laughs)
Paul: But I do! (laughs) But a lot of the town still has that type of clothing. The town played a big part in the filming-we had about 300 extras. A lot of the town also came forward and said, “Here’s some wardrobe. Obviously, we don’t need this, so we can donate it to the movie.”
One of the things someone donated was our grandmother’s mink coat. We didn’t know it until we walked in and saw it hanging there. That was certainly a break-taking moment, because we kept saying, “Too bad she can’t see this.” So to then have her coat with her name on it hanging in that office was like, okay, she’s here. (laughs)
SY: Adriana made her feature film writing and directorial debuts with the romantic comedy, which is based on her best-selling 2000 novel of the same name. What were your experiences of working with her like on the film, particularly since this is the first movie she both penned and helmed, and she adapted the story from her own book?
Patrick: Well, I think the biggest plus of working with a writer-director who’s also written the book that the film is based on is that the characters have lived with her for so long. You’re able to make really educated additions to the screenplay, and create scenes on the spot.
A lot of times when you work on a movie and they say, “Oh, we have new pages today,” it’s almost guaranteed that that material won’t make it into the movie. That usually means that someone didn’t think of something.
But with Adriana, a lot of he scenes were written right then (on the set), and that’s just the natural way that the movie evolved. She’s such a wonderful, positive and creative force that she was able to go with the flow and take what we were giving her.
She has such a love for the town she came from. The fact that the movie was able to be filmed there was a feat in itself. The overall experience of working with her was fantastic.
SY: Did Adriana allow you both to improv on the set, or offer suggestions on the direction where you both wanted to bring your characters?
Paul: There is a lot of comfort in having the director also be the writer, like Patrick said. They’re able to answer any questions, or solve any conflicts, an actor may have with a thought. Adriana let us wind up and do whatever we felt was right, in the boundary of sensibility. That’s certainly the case with my character, who I think was drunk in almost every scene he’s in. (laughs)
It’s very comforting, and a wonderful sense of security, to know that not only do we feel a kinship to her, but to also have this filmmaker on set who has this giant force of energy, happiness and leadership. It’s not like other experiences, where you don’t really know the people you’re working with.
I think we had a luxurious position because we’re so familiar with, and love, the town. We knew the people there, so we had a comfort filming there. To also be able to work with Adriana, who’s created these characters, some of whom are based on people we knew and grew up with, was great. To take the character’s narrative form from the book, where you just describing what they’re doing, and put them into a film where they actually have to do things, can be a challenge.
But she just let us feel the process with Ashley and Jenna, even though most of us had just met. We were immediately embroiled into those moments in 1978 in Big Stone Gap. I think the freedom she gave us allowed things to breathe and live. The filming wasn’t controlling by any means. She has this line that it’s a very motherly process to make a movie, and I think she was definitely that character for all of us.
SY: Speaking of working with the rest of the film’s cast, including Ashley and Jenna, how did you build your relationships with them on the set?
Patrick: I think the process is two-fold. You have to get into character, and learn how to work with your co-stars, right away on the set. I can’t tell you how many movies I’ve done where I showed up on the first day and was told, “There’s your wife, and here’s a love scene.” So we’re just to jumping in feet first.
I think one of the appeals of the story and movie is that it has a small town feel. Even if you’re from a big city, your own little neighborhood is your small town. I think when you come in with this attitude of embracing a story that’s about relationships and family, everyone else will come in with the same focus.
Jenna, for example, isn’t by any means from anywhere near Big Stone Gap, but she could still relate to the story and characters on that level. Anthony LaPaglia grew up in Australia, but was still able to key into these characters because of the fact that they embraced their hometown. While Ashley had never been to Big Stone Gap, either, her family is from just over the hill. Next to us, I think she felt the most at home, just because she knew these honest, direct and home-grown people.
So when everyone has the same focus, it’s easy to go, “Okay, you’re playing my brother and you’re playing my wife.” You’re all there for the same purpose.
Paul: I think the geography, and the town itself, contributed to that feel, and certainly the sensibility that you get of a small town when you read a really good script. As Patrick said, while not everyone can relate to a small town, I think everyone can relate to their hometowns. That was at the heart of this story.
That may be the reason why Adriana thought there was no better place to film ‘Big Stone Gap’ than in Big Stone Gap. When you see it, it looks like this little pastoral town in the middle of these beautiful mountains. I think that also helped us become these characters. Ashley’s sensibility as she came over the mountain also made a nice central point for this film.
SY: The film had its world premiere at last year’s Virginia Film Festival. What was your experience of bringing the comedy back to your home state to premiere it there, and how did viewers respond to the adaptation?
Paul: It was a nice way to thank the people of the town of Big Stone Gap, as well as every other small town in America, who let us be able to tell this story. If the internet has taught us one thing, it’s that we’re one community. But we don’t want to lose the sensibility, honesty and authenticity that you see in people in smaller towns.
I think that’s what we saw with Big Stone Gap; at least half the population of the town drove over to see the film in the festival, which was over six hours. It’s not an easy trip.
Patrick: I think this movie couldn’t have been made with not only the town of Big Stone Gap, obviously, but also the entire state of Virginia and the Film Commission. This is a time when it’s hard to get a movie made. When you make a movie like this, which is a love letter to the area, it was nice that the state pulled out all the stops. That’s why it was so great to premiere there last year. It couldn’t have premiered anywhere else, which showed in the amount of people who showed up.
Paul: There were about 1,200 or 1,300 people who showed up…
Patrick: …which was pretty special.
Written by: Karen Benardello