Peterborough apartment turned into movie set for ‘The Novice’
Film crew uses Victorian home on Hunter Street for film’s fraternity scene
When a film crew comes a knocking to see about shooting a movie in your place, just hide dirty dishes in the oven.
That’s what Anne Shebib did. Shebib’s Hunter Street apartment was the latest location shot for “The Novice.”
Written and directed by Lauren Hadaway, it’s a film about a college freshman who joins her university’s cutthroat rowing team and undertakes an obsessive journey to make the top varsity boat, according to Variety, an entertainment business news magazine.
Isabelle Fuhrman, 22, plays the leading role. She’s best known for her work in “The Hunger Games,” in which she played Clove, and in the 2009 horror film “Orphan.”
Shooting for the film started locally in mid-October at the Peterborough Rowing Club along the Otonabee River. Fuhrman learned to row about a month prior and was joined by local rowers for the shoot.
Some filming was also done at
Trent University before the crew set up at the Knights of Columbus for the next stage.
Shebib, who works at Peterborough Regional Health Centre, lives on the third floor of a
Victorian home on Hunter Street West.
She recently got a call from her landlord asking if she’d be willing to lend her apartment to a film crew for a movie shoot. He told her they’d put her up in a hotel and throw some cash her way, too.
But first, the producers wanted to see her place, and they were outside the house right then.
“I hid my dirty dishes in the oven and went down,” said Shebib, 29.
The producers told her they’d use the entire house for the shoot, and it would take a few days. The scene being filmed involves a fraternity party. “They loved the house,” she said.
On Tuesday, she made her way to the Comfort Inn, where the crew had a bunch of rooms on hold.
“When checking in I got to say, ‘I’m with the movie.’”
She also got $100 a day. Another part of the deal was that professional cleaners would take care of her place after the shoot.
When she returned home Thursday night, most things were where she’d left them and some things were in better shape. “My bathroom is way cleaner now than how I left it.”
On Friday, as she sat alone in her apartment, Shebib said it was hard to believe there were likely 40 people in her apartment the night before.
But then she’ll find a little evidence that says otherwise. “I keep finding things like boob tape because they used my office for wardrobe.”
She managed to score a new bathroom light out of the gig, too, because they didn’t like the existing one. “My bathroom looks way better.”
Producers for the film couldn’t be reached for comment, so it’s unclear when the movie will be released. But when it is, Shebib expects to make a purchase.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever gone out and bought a movie,” she said, “but I will definitely buy a copy or two.”