+ + + OUR VERY OWN
Status: Post-ProductionCast:
| Allison Janney |
.... |
Joan Whitfield |
| Keith Carradine |
.... |
Billy Whitfield |
| Cheryl Hines |
.... |
Sally Crowder |
| Beth Grant |
.... |
Virginia Kendal |
| Jason Ritter |
.... |
Clancy Whitfield |
| Hilarie Burton |
.... |
Bobbie Chester |
| Faith Prince |
.... |
Athylene |
| Autumn Reeser |
.... |
Melora Kendall |
| Derek Carter |
.... |
Ray |
| Michael McKee |
.... |
Glen |
| Dale Dickey |
.... |
Skillet |
| Amy Landers |
.... |
Rhonda |
| Richard Jenik |
.... |
Danny Prescott |
| Steven Griffith |
.... |
Buzz |
| Cody Block |
.... |
Skeeter |
| Rhoda Griffis |
.... |
Fanny |
| Lisa Norman |
.... |
Millie Jo |
| T. Scott Cunningham |
.... |
Dr. Dunwitty |
| Allison Mackie |
.... |
Sheila |
You may know them from...
-Allison stars in the hit NBC drama, The West Wing
-Cheryl stars in the critically acclaimed HBO comedy, Curb Your Enthusiasm
-Jason can currently be seen in CBS's Joan of Arcadia, and was in the 2003 slasher-flick, Freddy vs. Jason
About the Movie:
-Drama
-Release date of 2005
-It takes place in Shelbyville, Tennessee.
-Coming of age story about 4 or 5 teenagers in a small town.
-It's about two teenage girls during
the 1970's and their obsession with wanting to be like Sandra Locke, a famous
actress who eventually escaped the little podunk town and made it big in
Hollywood. I do figure that Hilarie is one of the two teens. She's also VERY blond for the
role... Almost FRIED blond.. Shelbyville really is PODUNK, I can't believe
anyone EVER thought of shooting a movie there! The town really did have an
obsession with Sandra Locke back in her golden days (the 70's) from what I've
heard, so I guess that's the only reason it's shot there. Plus the town square
is practically a replica of what it was exactly like in the 70's. (Thanks
to DrewBennettGrl83 for that info!)
-The story is a semi-autobiographical account of Cameron Watson's youth in a small southern town in the late seventies.
A group of teens hears that an actress from their hometown is returning for a visit.
They hope that meeting her will put them one step closer to fulfilling their own dreams.
-C.J. visited the set of OVO, and took pictures with Jason & Hilarie! (Read about CJ's fan encounter here)
Note: CJ took 2 pictures, one with Hilarie and one with Jason, but I edited her out and combined the two pictures.
-Hilarie tells writers Marilyn Beck and Stacy Jenel Smith this role is "something different".
If you have any info to contribute or add about the movie, let us know!
Visit the OVO thread
on the forum!
 Allison Janney, left, of NBC's The West Wing, and Cheryl Hines of HBO's Curb
Your Enthusiasm, are pictured on the set of indie film Our Very Own, being shot
in Shelbyville, Tenn. In this scene, Janney, playing Joan Whitfield, and Hines,
playing Whitfield's best friend, Sally Crowder, attend a ladies' luncheon.
Photo by Mark Levine.Hooray for Shelbywood
Hollywood stars shine in Shelbyville native's movie
By BRAD SCHMITT
SHELBYVILLE, Tenn. — As a boy growing up in this small town an hour
south of Nashville, Cameron Watson was obsessed with local hero-turned-movie
star Sondra Locke. He and his friends wanted badly to follow Locke's path to
Hollywood.
Watson did just that: Though he hasn't yet achieved Locke's fame, Watson has
appeared in small roles in the movie Vanilla Sky and in dozens of TV
shows.
Now, Watson is bringing Hollywood to Shelbyville. And he's using lots of
folks in his hometown to do it because his hometown is one of the show's stars.
Watson also is getting some help from Tinsel Town.
He didn't bring Locke back with him, but Watson has landed friend Allison
Janney, star of NBC's The West Wing, Jason Ritter, a principal in Joan
of Arcadia on CBS, and Larry David's TV wife, Cheryl Hines, on HBO's
Curb Your Enthusiasm.
Watson has taken his childhood obsession with Locke — who for years was Clint
Eastwood's lover — and turned it into a story of five teens who want to ride
Locke's coattails out of Shelbyville. The movie, Our Very Own, is both a
comedy involving some funny teen characters and a drama about how one of the
teens, played by Ritter, is watching his family fall apart at home.
''I was here for the years of (Locke's) rise to success,'' Watson said in an
interview sitting in one of the film's locations, a cousin's house just
one-third of a mile from Shelbyville's downtown square.
''As kids, we were obsessed with her. When she used to come back to town,
everyone was excited.''
Watson turned that obsession into a monologue he performed during a
high-powered Hollywood fund-raiser at the now-defunct Tiffany theater on Sunset
Boulevard. The crowd loved it, and several industry players encouraged Watson to
develop it into a play or a movie.
Watson wrote a screenplay and a year later, he had a reading, an event where
he first met Locke. She hadn't been told what the event was, and when the
reading began, she looked confused.
''The minute she heard the first reference to her or to her family, she threw
up her arms: 'What the hell is this?' '' Watson said. ''By the end of the
reading, she was doubled over.''
Armed with a script and Locke's blessings, Watson went forward to make the
film. Before long, he found a financier not among Hollywood's powerful movie
studios, but back home. Murfreesboro entrepreneur/philanthropist Bob McLean, a
Shelbyville native and fraternity brother with Watson's biological brother,
heard about the project and agreed to finance it, for a budget said to be less
than $5 million. Most major Hollywood productions have budgets between $30
million and $100 million.
With financial backing outside Hollywood, Watson and his producer friends,
who formed production company GADA Films, have complete creative control. That
also allowed Watson and producers Steve Cubine, Shannon McMahon Lichte and
Maggie Biggar to make the movie in Shelbyville.
This gave pause to some of those involved, including Janney, aka press
secretary C.J. Cregg on The West Wing, who plays star Jason Ritter's
mother in Our Very Own.
''I said, 'Can't we do Tennessee in the middle of California?''' Janney said,
laughing. ''Actually, I was very happy to come here and get out of town.''
Janney and Ritter, both on hiatus from their regular shows, said they came to
Tennessee to do the project because they loved the script and it presented
acting challenges.
Ritter — son of the late John Ritter and grandson of cowboy singer Tex Ritter
— plays Clancy Whitfield, the ringleader of his group of teens. Ritter's
character also has to face the alcoholism of his father (played by Keith
Carradine) and the emotional collapse of his mother (played by Janney.)
''His friends are so much fun!'' Ritter enthused. ''But there's only so much
forgetting you can do before you have to go home.''
Janney said her character's collapse was tough. ''This is one of the hardest
roles I've ever had to play. On The West Wing, it's not quite as
challenging emotionally. This gives me a chance to go places I don't go.''
Many roles are being filled by locals, including some major ones. Derek
Carter, a recent Middle Tennessee State University graduate, will play one of
the five teens who make up the movie's core. The drama teacher at Shelbyville's
Central High School, Marla Jennings, has provided lots of extras and production
help. Of the 100 cast and crew members, about half are from Middle
Tennessee.
Even catering is local, with a Shelbyville chef, Joe Gordon, whipping up
fried catfish, turnip greens, macaroni and cheese and other Southern delicacies,
a change the West Coast folks are enjoying.
And in possibly the biggest act of Southern hospitality, many locals have
cleared out of mansions and other high-end homes for out-of-town cast and crew,
all of whom stay in and around Shelbyville.
Don't look for Janney and Ritter to pop up in Nashville hot spots. Both said
they've gone out rarely during production and when they do, they stick to the
Shelbyville area. Ritter said he and some cronies have hit a karaoke bar there
called Pop A Top.
The film's climactic scenes are being done today and tomorrow on closed sets
in some of Shelbyville's walking horse arenas, and as many as 300 extras are
being used. The film wraps in about a week, and producers are hoping to have a
Shelbyville screening next year before entering Our Very Own in the film
festival circuit.
Meanwhile, townsfolk have been enjoying all the hubbub in their back yard,
and it has given them a chance to reminisce.
''I've been here for two months,'' producer Lichte said, ''and I can't tell
you how many Sondra Locke stories I've heard.''
Say, is that C.J. Cregg in Shelbyville?
An independent movie being made in Shelbyville will draw two big TV stars to
Middle Tennessee.
The movie, Our Very Own, is about a couple of teenage girls who
admired Shelbyville native Sondra Locke's move to Hollywood and who want
to tie themselves to her fur coattails.
Among the stars tied to the project are Peri Gilpin, Roz on
Frasier, and Allison Janney, White House spokeswoman C.J. Cregg on
The West Wing.
The two were recruited by another Shelbyville native, Cameron Watson,
who has appeared on episodes of a bunch of shows, including NYPD Blue,
CSI: Miami, Ned and Stacey and, yes, Frasier.
Cameron decided to do the movie after performing a stand-up routine about
Locke, an actress and director who appeared in movies from The Heart is a
Lonely Hunter to Willard to six movies with her former companion,
Clint Eastwood, and about how people in Shelbyville were obsessed with
her.
Filming is supposed to start in late May, and, yes, local actor types,
casting is still going on. Producers supposedly still are looking for teenagers,
and, yes, they'll look locally, so I'll try to find a casting contact for you.
And I won't even take 15%.
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