James Weems, a filmmaker from Nashville who worked on the films Hannah Montana: The Movie and Neil Young: Heart of Gold, will be making a short film with several WKU students and alums for local author and WKU English professor David Bell in Bowling Green on Saturday and Sunday (Aug. 27-28).
The short film will serve as a book trailer for Bell’s third novel, Cemetery Girl, which will be released Oct. 4 by New American Library/Penguin.
Cemetery Girl tells the fictional story of Caitlin Stuart who goes missing while walking her dog in a cemetery near her suburban home. Bell says Cemetery Girl is both a thriller and a story about a family struggling to overcome painful adversity. And the book has received advance praise from several bestselling authors, including Jacquelyn Mitchard, author of The Deep End of the Ocean, who says, “Cemetery Girl is a smasher. It twists and turns and never lets go.”
The film will be shot in Kereiakes Park and Fairview Cemetery in the late afternoon and evening Saturday and at the home of Amy and Justin Neal of Hampton Drive on Sunday evening. The public is welcome to watch the filming though they are asked not to disturb the crew, the actors or the animals in the film.
Weems has hired an all local cast and crew for the short film, which is called Caitlin’s Story.
Cate Lowry, daughter of WKU alums Kristie and Mark Lowry of Bowling Green, will star as Caitlin, age 12. Kate Neal, daughter of Amy and Justin Neal of Bowling Green, will play Caitlin at age 3.
Lisa and Shane Vandiver, also of Bowling Green, are letting Weems use their yellow lab puppy, Lexi, to play Caitlin’s dog, Frosty, at a young age, and the adult Frosty will be played by Buddy Hackett, a service dog owned by Michael Carter of the Bowling Green Parks and Recreation Department.
Caitlin’s parents will be played by two WKU professors — Dr. Eric Reed of the history department and Dr. Ingrid Lilly of the religious studies department.
Though the director and director of photography hail from Nashville, the rest of the crew will be made up of WKU students and recent alums: anthropology major Barrett Griffin, creative writing major Rachel Hoge, graduate student Kyle Sanders, and 2011 graduates Marianne Hale and Joey Coe.
To thank them for their time and assistance, Bell will be making donations to the Bowling Green Police Department, the Bowling Green Parks and Recreation Department, and Canine Assistants.
You can learn more about Bell’s work at http://www.davidbellnovels.com/ and view some of Weems’ music videos for Nashville musician Derek Hoke at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSwYugbceBw and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HphPb539z8&feature=related
Contact: Molly McCaffrey, (270) 745-5709 or molly.mccaffrey@wku.edu
WKU News Blog 
Leave a comment