In The Bedroom (2001) - Filming Locations

Let's Talk - Movies
Episode 25: In The Bedroom (2001) - Filming Locations

Jason Connell discusses his experiences of visiting the Maine filming locations of the award-winning movie and much more.

Synopsis: A New England couple’s college-aged son dates an older woman who has two small children and an unwelcome ex-husband.

Director: Todd Field
Writer: Andre Dubus (story “Killings”), Robert Festinger, Todd Field (Screenplay)
Cinematographer: Antonio Calvache
Composer: Thomas Newman
Cast: Tom Wilkinson, Sissy Spacek, Nick Stahl, Marisa Tomei, William Mapother

Original Episode: S01E25

Recorded: 05-23-22
Studio: Just Curious Media
https://www.JustCuriousMedia.com/

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Transcript

Jason Connell: 4:35:52

Whoa, just curious. Welcome to disk curious media. This is let's talk movies. And I'm Jason Connell on the show I'm discussing in the bedroom, a movie that came out in 2001. And I'm breaking down some filming locations for this movie. Last episode, I did funny farm I was visiting Vermont, and this time I'm in Maine, literally on location Well, in Maine, but not in the actual filming locations anymore, but I did visit them this weekend, this past weekend. And I'm excited to get into it not to mention just this movie in general. I saw it in the theater. Loved it. It's a dark, twisted little movie with great acting was like five Oscar nominations. So I just kind of want to get into it a little bit. And I always felt like the town this is filmed in this seaside town in Maine is a character in the movie itself and to stumble on it in real life. It was a bit of a revelation for me. I'd always wanted to visit it and then here I was, I was standing at a town adjacent found out it was in the next town and bam doing this episode so it wasn't even planned. It just happened. So in the bedroom, like I said came out in 2001. The synopsis for the movie is a New England couples college aged son dates an older woman who has two small children and an unwelcome ex husband. I'll say more on that soon. It was directed by Todd field. Now I knew him more as an actor and movies like Queens logic sleep with me Twister of all movies filmed in Oklahoma. Eyes Wide Shut he played Nick Nightingale he helped Tom Cruise get into the party in the movie, remember that scene. And he was Oscar nominated for Best Picture in this movie in the bedroom 2001 Because he was also a producer on it. Now it was written by Andre Dubus, or at least the story killings was and that was taken and turned into a screenplay by Robert Festinger as well as Todd field. They were both Oscar nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay. So for this same movie, so incredible job, Todd field coming out of nowhere, and having this kind of success was incredible. Now, Todd fields next movie was little children 2006 He was also Oscar nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay for that as well. So kudos to you, Todd field. Now the cinematographer for this movie was Antonio cal-vet Chi, who also was the cinematographer for little children. And you see that a lot you know, once you get comfortable with the cinematographer directors tend to work with them more often. I just want to see more films from Todd field. Now the composer for this movie was Thomas Newman, very well known composer. He has done movies such as the Lost Boys, The Shawshank Redemption, American Beauty, Road to Perdition, Wally, he is a 14th time Oscar nominated composer for best score, and one Oscar nomination for Best song with Peter Gabriel for Wally for the song for Wally, and has not won I find that a travesty. How can one have that many nominations without a win, but so it goes. Now the cast for this movie as I said, incredible. You have Tom Wilkinson plays Matt Fowler. You may recognize him in movies like The Full Monty Batman Begins The Grand Budapest Hotel Oscar nominated for Best Actor in this movie in the bedroom 2001. Also Oscar nominated for Best Supporting Actor and Michael Clayton in 2007. Next sissy spacing. You know the name, she plays Ruth Fowler, Matt's wife in the movie. It's their son that is having this relationship with a woman who has two kids. Now I'm gonna rattle off some movies that she was Oscar nominated for Best Actress for carry 1976 missing 1982 The river 1984 crimes of the heart 1986 In the bedroom this movie 2001 And Oscar winner for Best Actress and Coal Miner's Daughter in 1980. So incredible force here with this cast thus far. And then we have Nick Stahl, he plays Frank Fowler, their college age boy who gets into this relationship. He's in movies like bully Terminator three Rise of the Machines Sin City. Next we have Marisa Tormey, who plays Natalie Stroud, the woman with the two kids in this relationship with Frank. She's in movies like Chaplin, untamed heart for bedrooms before the devil knows you're dead. Oscar nominated for Best Supporting Actress in this movie in the bedroom 2001 as well as the wrestler 2008 and Oscar winner, Best Supporting Actress from my cousin Vinnie in 1992. One little side note here I actually saw Marissa Tormey inner restaurant in Los Angeles Atwater Village to be exact at one day and my friend and I were like, Wait, is that Miss Comey? And he's always had a crush on her. So Matt was geeking out but there she was in the flesh, but since I'm way above going over and introducing myself in that fashion, I did not and nor did he, but there was my one moment with Marisa Tormey in a restaurant together at the same time. And then next, there's William Maples there. And he plays Richard Stroud. Now he is the ex husband to Natalie Stroud played Marissa Tormey, who causes lots of trouble in this film. You may recognize him and Mission Impossible to Lords of Dogtown, and he was in the TV show last which was like a phenomenon for so long. He played Ethan. I think he was part of the others if I'm not mistaken. And now he is also Tom Cruise's cousin, real life cousin. And I actually met William at the Newport Beach Film Festival in 2007. One of my first film strictly background was in the festival. He was there, I was at a concession stand, and I turned around and boom. And he was very kind quick exchange. So so there it is, I have two brushes with cast members from this movie. Now, a little trivia, the actual title in the bedroom. It refers to the rear compartment of a lobster trap known as the bedroom. And it's known for that because it can only hold up to two lobsters. And if you have any more than that, they begin to turn on each other. And I thought that was really interesting title because I always thought Yeah, in the bedroom. Yeah. Okay, you've got this relationship. But yeah, it's a nice tie in because lobsters come into play the sea port, this main town, it's a character in the movie, like I said earlier. For instance, Frank, his grandfather was a fisherman or a lobsterman and his father played by Tom Wilkinson. He's a doctor. So their son is kind of picking up where the grandfather left off, doesn't know if you're worried or wants to go to school or when he's artistically inclined, but he's kind of doing his grandfather's work. So they show him going to the boat and his father coming to talk to him and say, hey, you know, getting to college. So it's a little bit of that element there, which is nice. It really ties in with the title itself. Now, the film was released November 23 2001. In New York and LA, it had a much wider release in 2002. But they probably did this for the Oscars, you do like a quick and release on both coasts for a week. And then you can be in the running for that year's Oscars because it came out wide in 2002. Now the filming locations. The point of this episode is it was set in Camden, Maine, a town in the mid Coast region of Maine. And it's quite accurate with the mannerisms, dialect and social customs of the area. Now, I visited just this past weekend, the town square of Camden, and visited many lovely shops as seen in the movie aid lunch overlooking the Camden Harbor where he was working, Frank was working his father would come by. And we also walked through the town enjoyed the gorgeous library. It's stunning. There's a waterfall that goes through town. And there are endless views of boats in the harbor, like from all angles. It's just it's really impressive. And what happened was, I was staying just outside of Canada, we were going up north to visit friends and the Bar Harbor area, actually went to eat and stayed in a place called Rockport. And I started looking online like well, what movies were filmed around here, you know, could it be in the bedroom and the area just reeks of it? If you've seen the movie, you're kind of looking to see what matches and sure enough Camden, which is a much bigger city than Rockport. I found out it was a few miles away and it's where they filmed the movie. So I went into notetaking and plan to do this episode. Now beyond Camden. There's a lot of additional scenes in this movie and they kind of cover other small main towns aren't even cities like townships and towns but they also filmed in Old Orchard Beach Belfast, which I drove through just today. Al's head Rockland, Rockport as I mentioned, and whisker set, which actually drove through today as well, and Chevette so little scenes here and there. It's kind of hard to splice together. There's like a softball game, and they're probably at one of these places. So you don't really know that unfortunately, I could not get the information of their house to Fowler's house where they all lived. And then in this movie, if you haven't seen it, I guess I can reveal some things. But what happens is unfortunately, the ex husband Richard Stroud is very jealous, very irrational. His last name Stroud is present throughout the movie his family owns the fishing company, actually that Frank is working for. He's so jealous and and rage his ex wife has moved on and she's in this relationship with a younger man. There's two young kids and play, and he comes over One day and shoots him dead. And they don't show that it's off camera and they show the aftermath. And what happens is, with the influence of the family's money in that town, he's not even in jail, there could be a trial looming. But then, of course, Matt and Ruth played by Tom Wilkinson at CSIS basic, are just distraught everywhere they go in town, you know, they run into him, it's a small town, mine do like one big main street. And there's nothing they can do. And what happens is, essentially, Matt Fowler can't take it. And he takes justice in his own hands, and plots away to murder Richard, area of the body and out in the woods, and Maine with the help of a friend. And kind of just street justice, as my co host, Sal Rodriguez would say on that's a crime. He takes street justice and offs him successfully the plan works. Unfortunate their son dies early in the movie. And then it's about them dealing with it trying to cope trying to move on, and then plotting this, which is kind of just a shocking strategy. And the wife's behind it, but not really involved. And you find yourself rooting for them, like, Yeah, this is just as he should take into his own hands. And it's just the emotional strings in this movie, beautifully scored, of course, by a very worthy composer. And again, the town just really embodies that. And I looked it up. And it was odd, because I assumed like all for sure that Todd field, the director, director must be from Maine, but he's not. He must have just been like, oh, it works better in this type of town to set this movie. They're a little children's also filmed in Massachusetts, where I live now, which I found to be quite interesting. So he must have really enjoyed it and came back to the east coast. But like in this movie, for instance, there's like a drawbridge and not the type that go up automatically, like a person has to come out and run this circle, like manually open the bridge to let boats go through and cars pass again. And after they will after the father Matt shoots and kills and buries Richard. It just takes forever like the person lets a boat come through. He's staring at him. It's like early dawn. And it's a very unsettling scene. I've watched it so many times. It's like, oh, my gosh, it's so cinematic. It's such a beautiful tale. It's heart wrenching, but having justice in it, although questionable justice, right. So I find I if you believe in that, but it deals with all those issues in a beautiful way. Now, what I realized when I watched it recently was the fact that, hey, this guy is missing. And what he does is he kind of takes Richard to his house, gunpoint makes him pack a bag, leaves, like some receipts or something for a train ticket somewhere. So making it look as if he is just left town. But I'm thinking more and more now with true crime the way it is. It's like, Hey, this is a missing person. And then it may be eventually they're gonna come around to see who had a motive and it's like, yeah, did he really get along with it? If there was ever a follow up to in the bedroom? Did they ever come looking for Matt Fowler? I don't know. But I like to think that the Fowler's lived the best life they can after what they endured losing their one and only son. And it's really just touching because Mercer termite feels the guilt from being Natalie Stroud. And she's the reason their son was killed. And she goes and visits sissy spastic at the school. And she won't even acknowledge her existence, because she knows, like fr said and hadn't met you, he'd be starting his life, his career. And so there's a lot of those scenes that are just heavy, but at the same time, so well executed, I highly recommend it. So I know it's a bit of a downer movie for some, but if you're under a really incredibly acted, crafted, directed, composed movie, look no further than in the bedroom 2001. And if you're in Maine, and you're in these regions, please visit Camden. I was telling my friends who I spent the weekend with, like how beautiful the city was, it just happened to be the backdrop for this movie. And I was very, very excited to visit it firsthand, spend some time there and probably will go back in the summer. Now that it's only like a few hours drive from me. And I got some video footage and a few photos and I'll put something on our YouTube channel for sure. So without further ado, please enjoy in the bedroom. 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