Canadian Press HALIFAX (CP) - Actors and crew huddle along a rocky outcrop on Nova Scotia's rugged south shore, their movie set Nearby, dozens of white trailers choke the coast's twisting roads usually used by fishermen heading to their wharves and tourists seeking picturesque views, as crew members try in vain to whisk curious onlookers past.
Hollywood is at work on this coastline and in various locations throughout Halifax, converting them into Mockingburg, N.Y., the bedraggled fictional setting of E. Annie Proulx's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Shipping News.
The press room of a Halifax newspaper has become the setting of a quirky Newfoundland paper where the book's main character, Quoyle, toils over news of car wrecks, the latest ships to pull into port and at least three or four sexual abuse stories per issue.
A south shore beach was the site of a dramatic scene in which a house was pulled across a windswept pond.
And a nondescript house on a Halifax street will stand in for a home in Mockingburg, a place so battered by recession that it has entered ''its third death.''
All of the activity has not only enthralled this small city, but helped elevate its stature in the film industry and put so many of its technicians to work that it's hard to find an available crew member.
''There is certainly a sense of excitement in the air,'' says Leslie Adamson of the Directors Guild of Canada.
''The community seems to be star-struck again having so many high-profile performers here. The town seems to have caught a little bit of star fever which we haven't had for a little while.''
Since the film began shooting last month, Halifax has been captivated with the movie and its impressive roster of A-list actors that includes Oscar winners Kevin Spacey and Judi Dench, and Oscar nominees Julianne Moore and Cate Blanchett.
Local media desperate to get a whiff of celebrity and denied access to the actors on the closed set have hounded the stars, reporting where they've eaten, where they're staying, what magazines they're buying and even what kind of lingerie they're picking up.
The Halifax Chronicle-Herald reported that Spacey joked with gawkers last Monday during filming in the building.
''There could be a breaking news story and you guys wouldn't even know,'' he teased reporters who were watching. ''I can't wait to see the paper tomorrow.''
The city's biggest library has a waiting list for its copies of the book and several bookstores, including Chapters, can't keep shipments of the novel on their shelves.
The province's profile soared briefly too when Spacey mentioned to 800 million people watching the Academy Awards last month that he had forgotten his tuxedo in Nova Scotia.
The attention is also due to Proulx's best-selling book, an endearing story of 36-year-old Quoyle, a born loser who gives up on life in the U.S. and returns with his two young children Bunny and Sunshine to his ancestral homeland of Newfoundland seeking redemption and a better life.
The picture, budgeted at $30 million (U.S.) and using a crew of about 200 people, is one of the most prestigious films to come to Halifax, which is also hosting about five other productions.
Yellow signs are competing for space on guideposts throughout the city, directing crews to the various production locations that include a shoot at a Halifax shipyard for K-19: The Widowmaker, starring Harrison Ford.
Several other co-productions and movies of the week are also being filmed or are about to start in the city, which normally experiences a slowdown in production at this time of year.
''This is great for Atlantic Canada - a lot of people are being employed and that's why it's important to us,'' said Charlotte Shurko of the Motion Picture Studio Production Technicians of the IATSE film union.
''It's definitely growing here.''
The film shoot, which will move to a small Newfoundland outport in the next few weeks, is being directed by Lasse Hallstrom, who has been nominated for Oscars for the movies Chocolat and The Cider House Rules.
There were rumours it might not make it to Newfoundland since Maine had been contemplated as a stand-in for the island, especially when John Travolta and Billy Bob Thornton were reportedly considering the role of Quoyle.
So far, some of the producers involved in the film, due to be released widely in the new year, say the experience of coming to Halifax has been a good one.
''We've all had a great time here,'' said co-producer Diana Pokorny, who has also been shooting at a sound stage in Dartmouth, N.S.
''Movie-wise, we're all really happy with what we're getting.''
Thanks to Mike Kennedy for sending me this article which appeared in The Star (Canada) on April 11, 2001.