Residents, staff at The Shores in Shirley MacLaine film, but
they’re not ready to kiss O.C. goodbye and head to Hollywood
OCEAN CITY – They were practically rubbing elbows with Academy Award winner Shirley MacLaine, but the residents at The Shores didn’t let it go to their heads.
They’re not ready to bid farewell to Ocean City, get agents, head to Hollywood and begin acting careers. Many would, however, happily be extras again if another film crew came to the UMC Community.
MacLaine, 90, who won an Oscar for “Terms of Endearment” (1983) and has a career spanning 70 years, was filming part of a movie – “People Not Places” – at The Shores over four days in June. A host of residents and staff members had the opportunity to be extras.
“It was very exciting. And surprising,” resident Edna McGilly said. “I didn’t know I was going to be on. I just thought it was going to be fun. It was and it turned out very nice. She (MacLaine) is a very lovely woman. Oh, absolutely, precious.”
“I think it was an honor that they chose this place,” resident Rae King said.
Was the location chosen because of The Shores itself or the star power of the residents?
“Definitely the star power,” resident Pat Custard said, smiling.
“They knew they would have a lot of good extras,” resident Jean Benson added. “I’m kind of kidding around, but we all thought we were stars because they treated us very nicely. It was so interesting to see how they all work together. Everyone had a job to do and when it came time for ‘action,’ they all knew what to do. That’s what amazed me.”
“All in all everything was great. They were all very nice to everybody,” McGilly said.
The large film crew and actors, including MacLaine and Stephen Dorff (“Blade,” “True Detective”), were at The Shores on June 20 and they returned to film more June 27-30, according to Brooke Chappell, director of sales and marketing at The Shores. She can add the job “extra” to her resume, as she and other staff members were asked to do background work on the film as well.
“I was just in the background doing things. They did about maybe 10 or 11 takes on that one. It was really neat to see how the production was done,” Chappell said. “Now I’m watching TV and I’m going, OK and ‘scene,’ and they did this, like I know a little bit about something,” she added, laughing.
Chappell was in a scene with resident Nancy Longenecker. “She actually got to meet Shirley MacLaine and took a picture with the director,” Chappell said of Longenecker.
“They caught me and said, ‘Will you talk? But you don’t have to speak,” Longenecker said, demonstrating how she pretended to talk.
“It was so stupid,” she said, laughing about miming talking. “It was hard for me because I do have a mouth. I’m kinda loud.” She added “it was kind of exciting. Stupid, but it was fun to meet these people. I never met stars (before).”
“She filmed all through the night,” Chappell said of MacLaine. “I don’t know how she had the stamina. She was amazing. When they wrapped up, she addressed everyone, saying, in part, “You all are precious people and I cannot thank you enough.”
“The crew seemed to really love her,” Custard said of MacLaine. They gave her some kind of paper they all signed. She was moved by it.”
“It will be a lot of fun when it comes out to see how it turned out,” McGilly said of the movie. “I didn’t realize I was going to be in it. I thought I was just going to be someone standing alongside everybody.”
“It was really a lot of fun. Tiring. We did stay up late, 1 o’clock. Even though we weren’t doing anything we had to be there. They do a lot of work – the movie director and everyone. Working all night and day,” McGilly said.
“They were walking around here like they were living here. You would wave and they would wave,” McGilly said.
Is she ready to blow this popsicle stand and head to Hollywood?
“Well, I don’t know,” she said, smiling. “I’ll have to look at my datebook and see what’s going on.”
She was surprised they used her for a scene in which she had to act startled when Dorff entered the room. “I didn’t believe them that they were (using me). I thought they were teasing me.”
“They were great people. Everybody was great. The whole cast. They were wonderful. I really enjoyed it, but I don’t know if I would ever do it again, not at my age,” McGilly said. “I liked it very much. It is something I’ll always remember.”
Custard said she declined the opportunity to be an extra two times, “but finally I consented and I was glad I did.”
She was hesitant because of the long hours.
“They were up until midnight. … They said it would only be two hours, but it turned out to be five,” she said, laughing.
Custard exchanged greetings with MacLaine without knowing it.
“I met her the first day she came here,” Custard said. “She walked right by me and I didn’t recognize her. I said hello. I thought she was a resident.”
Her participation in a movie scene was like “being the wallpaper. We were playing cards in the background behind her.”
“It was a great experience. I never realized all that was involved and the crew was so large and they all knew their positions and it ran smoothly,” Custard said. “Shirley MacLaine had to repeat her part several times (take after take) but I enjoyed it. It was great.
“I never realized what it was like behind the scenes,” she added.
“Ms. MacLaine was so nice, taking pictures and meeting everyone,” Chappell said. “She thought this was a cool place. I overheard her saying it a few times. She thought it was so interesting and that we were all happy. It was really a one-of-a-kind experience.”
“At first I didn’t know about being involved in it, but once I did accept it, it was very interesting. Very, very interesting,” King said. “They do an awful lot of ‘cut, cut, cut, cut.’ When we see a movie that’s completed, they don’t have all those cuts. Everything had to be perfect. And they were very professional. And for a woman of 90 (MacLaine) was great.”
King enjoyed seeing what went on behind the scenes. “We always see a movie when it is completed. You don’t realize what they go through. It is work. I don’t know if I want to go to Hollywood now or not,” she said, smiling. ‘I think everyone that is a resident and associate enjoyed it too. I think it may be good for Ocean City, this landmark.”
The women noted there were up to 20 people in a small room with all the lighting and equipment.
“I never knew it took that much for movies,” King said.
“We just like sitting there and pretending. Some people were drinking coffee because some of us were in the scene where the homeless man came in and screamed and caused a big scene,” Benson said of actor Stephen Dorff. “It was hurry up and wait. It took us from 7:30 to 12:30, when we got back to our rooms.”
“Pat and I were drinking a cup of coffee,” King said. “We had to make believe we were talking.
If they didn’t like it, it was ‘cut’ and do it all over again.”
One example is that they had a scene shot again just to change how MacLaine was placing her hand on Dorff’s shoulder. “He was wonderful,” she said. “I saw a picture of what he looks like in reality.” Dorff was made up to look like a homeless man.
With multiple takes, the backgrounds had to match.
“Each time they took another photo, they would come around and make sure everything was in the same spot, what was on the table. It had to be the same. There was one girl who went around and made sure all the props were in the right place,” King said. McGilly noted that she was told she could drink the water from her cup and as she kept drinking, they kept refilling it to make sure it was filled to the same level in every shot.
“We were all very well cared for. The head guy (The Shores Executive Director Jim Zauner) was here the whole time. We were not just turned loose. He was very visible,” King said. Zauner also was used as an extra.
“I would say there is the star right over there,” King said, pointing to McGilly. “She had a good part in it.”
“I’ll have to wait for the movie too,” McGilly said. “They made me do this,” she said, showing a surprised reaction and throwing up her arms when the homeless character entered, tossed a puzzle on the floor and screamed.
“She went back like she was going to fall off her chair,” Benson said of McGilly. “I almost did,” McGilly said. “They did ask me where I learned to do that and I said, ‘You’re the one who told me to do it.’”
“She was ‘Acting Edna,’” King said.
“We’ll see,” McGilly said, smiling. “You’re all invited to opening night. How’s that?”
– STORY by DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
At top, From left, Rae King, Jean Benson, Pat Custard and Edna McGilly were extras during the filming of a movie starring Shirley MacLaine at The Shores, a UMC Community. (Photo by David Nahan)