It's a Wrap

The bucks that stopped here are moving on. ("Dear Buck," said Lanie Baxter, "we will miss you!")

All the portraits of shady-looking lawyers have disappeared.

With them go the 2019-vintage desktop computers, boxes of fake legal documents, South Carolina lawbooks with the shelves that bore them, and heavy ornate furniture. Also gone are yard upon yard of thick cables, the trucks and cranes that filled our parking lots, and sheets of plastic wrap that protected our carpets when filming crews came in.

In other words, the filming of The Murdaugh Murders has finished. This week, the post-op crew removes the set pieces and restores our walls and halls to their ante-Murdaugh condition.

The Last Day I was at church before 7a on Friday for the last day of filming. Jim Chester relieved me around 10a. Bill Eubanks was here that evening from around 4p to 8:39p when the director yelled, "It's a wrap!" Bill wrote in an email that there was "much applause and hooting."

The end came not a moment too soon, according to Bill, since the thermostat had been re-set to cool the actors and crew who were crammed into our conference room with hot lights. "I won't say it was cold," Bill wrote, "but we pulled everything out of the kitchen freezers and huddled inside to warm up!"

The production wrapped early despite an unwelcome interruption. All work suspended when the fire alarm went off. Only later did Bill discover why: the Fire Safety Officer had unwittingly set off the system himself. Andrea Keener, member of both our church and the studio team, was relieved to hear it: "At least we know none of the crew was trying to get to recess early!"

The very next morning, a crew that Bill re-named "Tony and the Divine Dustbusters" came in to prepare the church for services. They cleared walkways, vacuumed, mopped, and wiped surfaces.

The Sequel Wednesday, film crew, actors, costumers, and even caterers came back for a single shot. All they needed was a train to blow past "Alex Murdaugh" at the crossing.

Marietta police closed a lane on Polk Street, crew kept their equipment ready, and the actor waited in a vehicle with the appropriate 2019 South Carolina license plate.

(Photo: At noon, Angel was optimistic that a train might show up before dark. It didn't happen.)

But our train, having delayed or interrupted numerous scenes throughout this project, didn't make an appearance.

Angel, the site manager, explains that Homeland Security regulations prevent the studio from seeing the schedule for trains.

L-R, Jim, Erik, Bill, Lia and Andrea. The studio awarded Jim a badge for his stunt work, for the film day in March when he took a dive out of a doorway.

On Thursday this week, Jim, Bill, Building Superintendent Erik Linso, the studio's site manager Lia Towers, and location scout Andrea Keener met for a walkthrough of our campus inside and out. They know each other well after sharing many 16-hour days. They compared church furniture and decor to photographs made in January. They also checked on floors, ceilings, walls, doors, walkways, landscaping etc. to list items for repair, cleaning, and painting.

Then this adventure will be over for good. "Unless," Sue Hannan wondered. "What if Murdaugh wins an appeal?" Stay tuned. Know any good news items about goings-on in the parish? Share them with me at the communications desk.

[This is this week's "Pulse of the Parish" column for the Bells newsletter of St. James Episcopal Church, Marietta GA]