Movie written, produced and filmed in Rapp to premiere nationwide
“The First Lady,” a movie shot in Rappahannock County and featuring local actors among others well recognized on the film screen, will premiere at select theaters nationwide on Valentines Day.
The film is a romantic comedy written and produced by Nina May, a longtime resident of Scrabble who resonates all things Rappahannock.
The name Nina May might conjure images of a coy, eyelash-batting Southern belle draped in a sweeping hoop dress, descending slowly down a circular staircase with Rhett Butler at her side. But the real life Nina bears little resemblance.
While she is a beautiful, highly intelligent woman, she is also a force of nature, and any attempts at capturing her essence present challenges to even the most gifted of wordsmiths.
A true Renaissance woman, May created the Renaissance Foundation, a non-profit, educational organization that developed Renaissance Women Productions (RWP), to provide learning opportunities to people who feel called into the entertainment industry but need vehicles to showcase their talents and skills.
RWP has been producing awardwinning shorts, documentaries, TV shows, and films for the past two decades. The majority of May’s myriad faith-based films are filmed right here in Rappahannock and enjoy actors and crews of local origin.
“The First Lady,” which recently premiered in New York City, features Corbin Bernsen of L.A. Law fame and Nancy Stafford, co-star with Andy Griffith on Matlock.
So how did all this successful movie jazz begin for May?
A number of years ago she was cast as an extra in a feature length film starring Jody Foster. For two solid weeks she was on set absorbing the process, soaking up every smidgeon of information like a sponge, shadowing actors and stage crew. She admits being smitten, bitten by the film industry bug.
Fast forward a few years, having completed among other studies of the film trade a script writing class and learning the “high concept” process — to think of something unique, outside of the box.
“I thought I’d love to run for first lady and the idea for this movie, this script was born,” she reveals.
She loves most, May says with a smile, watching her husband Colby May “at various premiers, laughing out loud at the same scenes he’s seen over and over again.”
May currently has six more scripts in the pipeline and if all goes well a sequel to “First Lady.”
“We’re opening all over the country, in Nashville, Atlanta . . . L.A. and more. The goal is to start small and move up and get good box office receipts,” she of the new film.
She’s known Stafford, who plays the part of first lady, for a number of years. In fact she contacted her immediately upon finishing the script, asking her if she’d be interested in the role. She didn’t hear back — this was 3 years ago — and so she began production of another movie, “Daily Bread.”
Upon that successful release she revisited “First Lady,” reaching Stafford and discovering that their wires had been crossed. Stafford, in fact, had loved the script, and not having heard back from May assumed the film wasn’t being pursued. And May, not having heard back from the actor, thought the same.
All said and done, they laughed over the misunderstanding and Stafford was cast. Casting Corbin Benson was a different story altogether.
May, in search of a leading man, contacted Joe Battaglia, a well known film network guru and he immediately, without hesitation, suggested Corbin. Within hours, to her astonishment, May received a call from the actor at her home. Turns out he’d seen her “Daily Bread” trailer, loved it and moreover always wanted to be cast aside Nancy Stafford. The deal was inked.
“First Lady” is a classic romantic comedy with the backdrop of presidential politics and royal charm. It is a modern fairytale about a woman, not married to the president, who runs for the Office of First Lady. However, she winds up getting a much better proposal than she ever expected. She is torn between a promise and her calling. It is a modern fairy tale for the whole family about an autumn romance with a twist.