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SOMERS, N.Y. You may know it as the Muscoot Inn in Somers, but at dawn Sunday morning, the local landmark restaurant at the intersection of Routes 35 and 100 was transformed into a rural Canadian bar, somewhere in a small Quebec town.
The film, currently dubbed The Untitled Christmas Tree Project, stars Paul Giamatti (Sideways, John Adams, Win-Win) and Paul Rudd (Clueless, Knocked Up, Night at the Museum), who play two con men en route from Canada to New York with a load of Christmas trees that they plan to sell.
The bar scene comes up early in the film, said producer John Penotti. The whole movie is shot on location, most of it in New York City and all over Brooklyn. Were shooting about 20 percent in Westchester, about 10 percent at this location. Last week we were in the Adirondacks near the Canadian border.
Additional scenes will be filmed at the white house adjacent to the restaurant. During the spring-like Sunday, the lawn was strewn with artificial snow. That scene will be later in the movie, said Penotti. Its part of a montage of Christmas preparations with carolers.
The film was written by Melissa James Gibson, according to co-producer Dan Carey. Gibson is an upcoming award-winning playwright whose most recent work is the Playwrights Horizon production, This.
Shes an old friend of Giamattis, said Carey. They went to drama school together. The third producer working on the film is Giamattis wife, Elizabeth. He described the plot as intense but funny.
The film also stars English actress Sally Hawkins (Happy-Go-Lucky, Made In Dabenham).
Weve been working on it for over five years, Carey added. Itll take about 5-and-a-half weeks to shoot.
Jason Kadlec, assistant location manager, explained they took photographs of Muscoot and sent them to the director some time ago. He liked the look of the bar, Kadlec said. It looks like it could be rural Quebec.
The film is expected to be released around Christmastime.
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