CASS AVE. CASTING CALL
Scenes for new TV series shot at Woonsocket High
WOONSOCKET – If you found yourself blocked from traveling down Cass Avenue Thursday evening, it was because Woonsocket High School had a new role for the night, a starring stint as William White Memorial High School for scenes of the new AMC horror series based on Joe Hill’s novel “NOS4A2.”
While the city is no novice in helping filmmakers conduct shoots here, with portions of “Hachi, a Dog’s Tale,” “The Purge, Election Year,” and “The Polka King” and television productions filmed locally, it can be a surprise to those coming upon filming in progress, like motorists trying to use Cass Avenue Thursday.
Woonsocket Police officers were posted on details blocking the road and all the intersections running opposite of Woonsocket High School. Vehicles were forced to detour around the shooting site via Elm Street and the back roads behind Nursery Avenue to make their way to Diamond Hill Road or Mendon Road.
The production company had set up at the school in the afternoon after school let out with motorcycles to be used in the filming stored on the side of the school and the camera and sound recording equipment set up in the front parking lot opposite the school’s main entrance. Several extras could be seen in high school clothing and accessories as they stood around the sidewalk near the main entrance waiting to hear “action.” The principals of the film were gathered on the sidewalk leading down to Cass Avenue along George Nasuti Way and sound booms and lighting equipment surrounded them.
No information was available from the production crew at the scene but the shooting by Stalwart Films was reported to be related to the start of “NOS4A2” filming in Rhode Island on Thursday. The filmmakers had also been shooting in West Warwick, East Greenwich, Warren and Barrington.
Steven Feinberg, the executive director of the Rhode Island Film & Television Office, did release a statement on the start of production
for “NOS4A2,” a working title. He said principal photography on the first 10 episodes of the AMC series’ first season would be conducted in the Ocean State at a variety of selected locations. The series is expected to premiere on AMC in 2019, according to Feinberg.
“NOS4A2” is based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Joe Hill, and follows the villainous Charlie Manx, (Zachary Quinto), who is pursued by Vic McQueen, (Ashleigh Cummings), a young blue-collar New Englander who discovers her supernatural abilities as she tries to defeat Manx and
rescue his victims without losing her mind or falling victim to him herself,” Feinberg said in the statement.
Jami O’Brien,“Fear the Walking Dead,” “Hell on Wheels,” created the show for television, he said, and will serve as show runner and executive producer, along with executive producers Joe Hill and Lauren Corrao, Co-President of Tornante Television.
Tom Brady of the “Colony,” “Hell on Wheels,” serves as co-executive producer and Henry Bronchtein, “The Sopranos, “The Son,” and “Turn: Washington Spies,” will line
produce, he said.
The series is produced by AMC Studios in association with Michael Eisner’s Tornante Television, according to Feinberg.
The statement also included remarks by Governor Gina M. Raimondo, House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello, and Senate President Dominick J. Ruggerio.
As for the filmmakers themselves, Jami O’Brien, executive producer and show runner, said he was “excited to be able to shoot our scary, New England fantasy horror show in New England. Rhode Island offers us such a great variety
of looks and a priceless feeling of authenticity – not to mention clamcakes and cabinets!”
Feinberg said AMC is a topnotch network and the new series, “NOS4A2,” is highly creative with award-winning talent attached.”
In addition to filming at Woonsocket High School Thursday evening, the production company was also using the parking lots off Social Street to set up its production trailers and support services.