Wednesday, June 9, 2010

"Night at the Oyster Bay Railroad Museum” by Bill Bell




Shortly before Christmas last year, the producer from NYEH Entertainment contacted us re their desire to shoot the final scenes of a film they were working on. "All God's Children"
is a romantic thriller and features numerous train and subway shots. The film's ending takes place in the OBRM Rail Yard, literally on the stairs of the vintage P-54 passenger coach.
Lots of conversations, negotiations and email exchanges took place throughout the winter, and on March 19th, the film crew and actors arrived in the late afternoon and began to prepare for the shoot that would take place after sundown and finish at 2:00 AM. The OBRM Preview Center served as the make-up room and press center. They invited me to join them for dinner at Canterbury's. During our lively conversation I learned that most of these talented young people had never tasted oysters! Most of them came from inland communities in places like Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Oklahoma. The rest is history - and they are no longer oyster amateurs.
Briefly, the movie theme is a disturbing tale of an normal young man who works by day as barista in a coffee shop - his life at night is anything but normal. I promised to reveal no more.




Those of you familiar with the Rail Yard will recognize the numerous, and somewhat eerie scenes shot there. The director told me that he was extremely pleased with the nighttime look of the yard, and the somewhat ominous feel it imparted.
The film will be released this summer. We are working on setting up an Oyster Bay Railroad Museum sponsored special screening for our local community.