Guest Blogger: Cara Hedrick

Cara sent me an e-mail today that I thought I would share with everyone since she doesn't have a blog. I was there last night, but I didn't look at it quite as emotional as she does. Of course, I am all excited about the movie, but she brought up a good point. I'll let you read it yourselves.

Hello all! If I had a blog this would be a great posting. Since I don't have a blog...This long, rambling email will have to suffice. I went downtown yesterday evening to watch some of the filming of the"We Are Marshall" movie. The first scene I watched was of a young black man walking out of the Arcade building (a young black man in tight, babyblue pants and an afro!). He stops when something in the newspaper machine catches his eye. He stops at the machine, bends down and reads the paper inquisitively. After which, he stands and shakes his head and walks on. I can only imagine that this scene will depict someone stopping to read the news of the crash. Then I watched as Anthony Mackie (the actor playing Nate Ruffin) and another young man rehearsed their scene of "going to the movies". For those who may not know the whole story, Nate Ruffin was a Marshall University football player who missed the trip to East Carolina University due to a broken arm. Ruffin and a friend went to see a movie at the Keith Albee that night (according to the Keith Albee marquee the movie is "Kelly's Heroes"), and that is where he learned of the crash. Apparently they rehearsed this scene in the early evening and then actually shot it later in the night. Many of the store fronts along 4th Avenue have been transformed to portray the look of 1970. There is a furniture store with a mock living room set up in the front window (it is very bright!). Next to the furniture store is a shoe store, and then a hat shop. They all look very authentic, as well as the old Frederick Hotel and the Keith Albee building. These two buildings have had a lot of work in the past few weeks in order to restore their outward appearance. The next scene was one that caught me off guard. Several blocks of 4th Avenue had been sprayed down to give the look of the harsh rain that had just fallen on the night of Nov. 14, 1970. I stood on the sidewalk of 4th avenue and watched as 2 fire trucks, 2 ambulances, and 1 police car raced down the street... Imaginably on their way to the crash site. According to a movie staff person standing nearby, a few of those vehicles were actually driven the night of the crash. Intermingled with the emergency vehicles were random 70s-style cars. Watching this scene was never "Hollywood" to me. It was as if I was standing on that sidewalk in 1970. I WAS watching police and firefighters approach a scene that would change their lives forever. All of a sudden the excitement of "making a movie" was not what people were thinking about. The streets were lined with people watching the filming (at a short distance away in order to not be in the shot), as well as approximately 50-60 production staff but there was an unexplainable silence. The only sounds were the roar of the old engines of the trucks and the whistles on the emergency vehicles. When I left at approximately 11pm last night there were still people showing up to watch the filming of this scene. I watched as an older man stood with what I imagine to be his grandson and pointed to the old cars. I wondered what he was telling him. I think maybe I should stay away from the set for a while! It's a bit too emotional for me. I've attached a few pictures from the last few days of filming that are on the Herald Dispatch web site.
Cara

Here's a few pictures from the newspaper:

This was taken on Tuesday on the set of the memorial fountain scene.

Thanks, Cara, for the e-mail, the pictures and a different point of view on this.