Staff writer
niedbala@observer-reporter.com
NEMACOLIN - Looking for a location to film a movie that takes place in a desolate, post-apocalyptic world, a film crew has found the right setting in the wastelands of the Nemacolin coal-refuse dump.
Crews began filming at the site Tuesday for the movie, "The Road," described in a media release as the story of a father and son's survival in a world in which civilization has been destroyed and the few humans who remain roam a barren, ashen landscape.
The film crew was on site Wednesday, though no one from the media was permitted to enter. Emma Cooper, a publicist for the production company, said in an e-mail the set is closed to the media and spectators.
The movie is based on the Pulitzer prize-winning novel "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy. McCarthy also wrote "No Country for Old Men," the movie adaptation of which recently won four Oscars, including one for best picture.
"The Road" stars Viggo Mortensen, who was nominated for an Oscar for his performance in "Eastern Promises," and the young Australian actor Kodi McPhee as his son. Charlize Theron leads the supporting cast with Guy Pearce and Robert Duvall.
Cooper said in a Tuesday e-mail that the crew was shooting scenes at Nemacolin with Mortensen and Duvall.
Members of the Nemacolin Volunteer Fire Co. were directing traffic Wednesday morning for the film company at an access road to the dump along Nemacolin Road at the top of Nemacolin hill.
Two vans owned by a catering company were parked across the street from the access road at the former shirt factory. A tent was erected in front of the vacant factory building where the film crew could eat their meals.
Firefighters said they knew little about the production and were only asked to do traffic control. They said they hadn't recognized anyone going into or out of the site.
"Usually they come in in dark vehicles so you really can't see who is who," said Dan Johnson, a fire company member and emergency medical technician.
The firefighters also had not seen the location, though they said the road leads to the waste dump. "It looks pretty desolate back there," Johnson said.
A coal-waste dump, with its gray stone cover and hills eaten away by erosion would seem to fit the description of the post-apocalyptic world described by the news release.
The release says the movie is about a man and his son who walk a dangerous road in a post-apocalyptic world "where cities have been destroyed, plants and animals have died and every scrap of food has been plundered.
"The few surviving humans who roam this wasteland have turned to cannibalism," it said.
The movie follows the father and son's quest for survival as they travel toward the sea in the hope of finding safety and other surviving "good people."
The story explores "hope in the face of hopelessness," the release said. "As we watch these two travelers, a father and son who carry our humanity, we can't help but feel the world hangs in the balance of their quest."
Filming began last month in the Pittsburgh area. It will conclude April 30 when the production relocates to Mount St. Helens, Ore., and later, New Orleans, La.
Cooper said filming at the Nemacolin site will conclude today.