Scene Stealer

There would be an endless crowd around George (Clooney) and folks would ask where Mark Wahlberg was and we would have to tell them, ‘He just checked your ID at the door!”

— Mary Anne Shatford

It’s hard to believe, but this year marks 25 years since the release of The Perfect Storm—the Oscar-nominated film based on Sebastian Junger’s bestselling account of the 1991 disappearance of the Andrea Gail and her crew off the Grand Banks of Newfoundland during the infamous “No Name Storm.”

At the time, director Wolfgang Petersen said his top priority was authenticity.  The cast—George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, John C. Reilly, and Diane Lane—understood how personal the story was to Gloucester.  They immersed themselves in the town, spending their downtime with locals and heading every night to key spots like the Crow’s Nest bar.

The truth is, Cape Ann has enchanted filmmakers for decades, drawn to her gorgeous seashores, rugged seascapes, and idyllic sea-side towns, and captured their imaginations with the grit and heart of her maritime history.  From the goofy playground for Grown Ups shot at Chebacco Lake and all over Essex, and the charming mischief of Mermaids filmed in Manchester and Rockport, to the sweet sentimental scenes of The Love Letter and The Proposal, both using the quaint and vibrant streets of Bearskin Neck in Rockport (and, of course, the iconic Motif No.1) as the perfect romantic backdrop;  Cape Ann has endless appeal.  

Folks in Essex still remember when, in 1996, Director Nicolas Hytner and his production crew arrived having chosen Choate Island (then called “Hog Island”) off Conomo Point as the setting for the film adaptation of Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible.  Local shipbuilders and woodworkers helped to build the small village meant to recreate Salem in 1692 as the backdrop for the haunting story surrounding the Salem Witch Trials. 

The film’s main character, John Proctor, was played by actor Daniel Day-Lewis, who arrived to set in character.  He helped build structures and even asked to live in one that had no plumbing or electricity to prepare for his role.  Bob Brophy, a woodcarver who is widely known for his prized hand-carved duck decoys, was hired as an extra on the film, as many locals were.  One day during a break in filming, Brophy, still in costume, sat on a rock and busied himself by whittling.  Intrigued, Day-Lewis came over to see what he was doing.

“I just got him going on it!  He’d come over to my house and spend a couple hours with me, and I gave him a few little things to work on,” said Brophy.  “When we went on the set, he and I would be sitting over under a tree somewhere, carving.  I brought him nice carving knives, and he was all psyched about it.” 

The David Mamet 2000 film State and Main used Manchester as a stand-in for the fictional town of Waterford, Vermont, in a hilarious story about the rub that comes when a big Hollywood production lands in a small town.  The crew shot most scenes in Manchester. 

Look for the “Main Street” shots in downtown and for residential shots, Pleasant Street.  The former Floyd’s General Store on Central Street is heavily featured.  The fire house scene was shot outside the Manchester Fire Department building, and for the charming sea-side village, Singing Beach in Manchester was perfect with Gloucester providing the harborside and dockside backdrops.

Meg Montagnino-Jarrett, a native of Gloucester, is director of the Massachusetts Film Office.  She estimates that over 39 films have been shot on Cape Ann.

“Producers love coming to Cape Ann because it just has so much to offer, from the iconic seaside to a truly authentic seafaring community and all the interesting looks in between,” she said.

When The Perfect Storm hit theaters 25 years ago, global audiences overwhelmingly responded to the real-life story of the extraordinary courage and grit of Gloucester’s fishing community.  It is perhaps the most poignant film shot on Cape Ann as it was based on the true-life of losing six beloved Gloucester fishermen.  Embracing the intimacy of the story, Wolfgang Petersen used locals who were part of the real story as members of the cast.  In turn, members of the cast and crew, while here, became part of the community. 

“There would be an endless crowd around George (Clooney) and folks would ask where Mark Wahlberg was and we would have to tell them, ‘He just checked your ID at the door!’,” laughed Mary Anne.  To this day Mary Anne and her husband, Gregg Sousa—both of whom were extras on the film—are friends with several of the cast members, as well as Sebastian Junger.

Today, the space that was used to build the movie’s version of the Crow’s Nest is now home to Maritime Gloucester, a vibrant maritime museum, education center, and working waterfront hub.  “It is great that on this site is a uniquely authentic place that does so many great things.  The significance of The Perfect Storm movie lives on in a place of hope for the future of Gloucester,” says Michael DeKoster, executive director of Maritime Gloucester.

Of course, there is 2016’s Manchester by the Sea, written and directed by Kenneth Lonergan, which depicts the tragic life of a man returning to his hometown, a blue-collar fishing community, and the film was shot mainly in Gloucester, Manchester, and Essex.  The plot and characters were truer to Gloucester.  Word is the director simply could not resist the sound of “Manchester by the Sea” for the title.

According to Montagnino-Jarrett, local fishermen were cast as extras, and the scene that appears to be a residential neighborhood where Casey Affleck, the main character, walks home to find his home on fire with his family inside, was shot off Davis Street behind the former East Gloucester Elementary School. 

2019 brought CODA to town, a beautiful film about a hearing young woman growing up in a deaf family who runs a struggling fishing business.  The movie is, in its way, a love letter to Gloucester. 

“Our director, Siân Heder, grew up in Cambridge and spent summers on Cape Ann.  ...  She did extensive research into the industry and highlighted the many problems facing it, getting to know lots of the local players along the way, allowing us to have access to all sorts of resources and locations that added to the film’s authenticity,” shares the film’s location manager, Tim Gorman.  

Local businesses, including The Open Door’s thrift store, Second Glance, provided props for the film and serving as the setting for key scenes as well.  Shooting took place all over Cape Ann with notable scenes at Pratty’s, Cape Pond Ice, Shalin Liu Performance Center, and, of course, the breathtaking Steel Derrick Quarry in Rockport.

In the end, is it any wonder so many stories are captured here?  It is all around us, and in us, that sparkling thing found nowhere else, from the quaint charm of our seaside neighborhoods and breathtaking coastline, to the heart and soul of our working seaports, it is ours — the unique and enduring spirit that is Cape Ann.