English 280: The Journalistic Essay

By Joe Lafond

Hollywood, California is one of the most iconic places on earth. Even the name “Hollywood” has become an endearing term that carries with it so much. With the bright lights and shining stars of showbuisness, common people escape to a place within themselves and around them that is far away. As is with star gazing, rarely do the furthest onlookers come so close to a world so foreign.

North Andover Massachusetts is a small town. Located 23 miles north of Boston, it’s a small suburban setting made up mostly of homes and the families who live there. Despite its share of wealthy residents, the core of North Andover is a townie’s town, in the sense that Main Street is actually the center of attention and word spreads fast among its tight knit community. For the most part, everybody is connected through somebody and the faces have names. As if it were painted by the brush of Norman Rockwell, old men who have lived in this town their whole lives, rarely setting foot out of it, gather outside the donut shop. They sit on benches across from the Fire Department and share the same stories and greet the same people who are making the same rounds everyday. In short, not much goes on in North Andover Massachusetts and the permanent citizens evoke small town Americana.

It is, however, not completely foreign to the changes of the modern world. Like other suburbs, it has business and industry dispersed throughout. Along with it’s collection of pharmacies, pizzerias, and barbershops it also is host to some larger establishments that have crept in over the years. Several industrial parks that are hidden from the more traveled routes of town are home to corporate divisions and offices. None of these, however, are as large and well known to the townspeople as Lucent Technologies.

Sitting practically on the town border, the Lucent building is a massive property that accounts for a significant amount of land, not just with its enormous structure, but the premises surrounding it. It’s an area of about 157 acres including a 2 million square foot building, to get technical. Completed in 1956, the property was originally opened and operated as Western Electric. As time went on, it began to thrive and grow until in the 1980s it was changed to AT&T. By this time, the plant had become the number one manufacturing space in the region and provided over 13,000 jobs to citizens of North Andover and surrounding communities. Under its last incarnation, Lucent Technologies, the property operated under full capacity and continued to provide the same level of production and employment.

However, something went horribly wrong. Lucent Technologies began to fail, and the massive plant began to lower employment and abandon use of it’s wealth of space. Suddenly, the welcomed presence of Lucent in North Andover became a problem. As jobs were cut, the local economy was dealt a blow. Not only did the loss of jobs and reduced prosperity of Lucent hurt the wallets of those directly affected by the layoffs, but it also signified the slow death of one of the town’s greatest assets. Such a valuable and successful establishment provided massive amounts of tax dollars to the town, and the loss of this would certainly be felt by those who lived within the friendly confines of North Andover. Once one of the town’s prides and joys, the Lucent plan had become a figurative bastard son and was the center of much debate and concern. Eventually, the plant was operating at such a low level that the space being wasted was all but nothing, and after years of delay Lucent finally moved out of North Andover, leaving a monstrosity behind that needed to be filled.

Purchased by Osgood Properties, the building sits today mostly unused, but open to renters and use by companies interested. But among the businesses and enterprises that have shown interest in the property, one would make use of the building that was unexpected. The enormous, modern looking structure caught the eye of Hollywood. More specifically, the movie studio USA pictures in their quest of location scouting for the production of their upcoming release The Box.

The Box, scheduled to be opened nationwide sometime in 2008, is a science fiction thriller about a mysterious box that bears with it great consequences. Starring Cameron Diaz and James Marsden, the film is no small production with a budget over 30 million dollars. The motion picture is written, produced and directed by Richard Kelly, who is best known for his work as writer and director of the cult hit Donnie Darko. According to Kelly, in an interview with Variety magazine, the film production is going to be working closely with NASA. However, when it came to finding a location that resembles a NASA building, North Andover’s own Osgood Properties, with it’s monstrous stature was picked. “This provides exposure”, said Town Manager and Head of Human Resources Richard Santilli when asked about the filming. “It benefits the town and the situation at Osgood Properties no question.” According to Santilli, however, not much of this was controlled by the town. “When it comes to private property it’s virtually out of our control,” Santilli explains. “They find locations through listings and the town is only contacted if it’s a public matter.” However, Santilli is no stranger to information regarding filming of The Box. Realistically, he is a key figure and inhabitant of North Andover and could not avoid the hype that filming would bring with it.

Once again, the asset turned eyesore became the center of attention and pride for the small North Andover community. All eyes were on production when it rolled in, and if only for a few days the outskirts of town became the talk of downtown. Curiosity grew, and stories began to run wild. Tall tales ranging from standing behind Cameron Diaz in line at Dunkin Donuts, to her dining at the local seafood restaurant began to make the rounds, although the validity of which remains unknown and doubtful. Either way, people were talking as usual, but had something new to talk about.

Although it would appear from the townspeople’s behavior that Hollywood had never shone its bright lights on the small town, this wasn’t the first time surprisingly enough. Just a year earlier, North Andover had its first big taste of stardom from the world of moviemaking in the form of a visit from The Rock during production of his hit Disney film, The Game Plan.

Dwayne Johnson, more commonly known as The Rock, became famous years ago during his work as a performer with World Wrestling Entertainment, or WWE for short. During this time of immense mainstream success for professional wrestling, The Rock became a household name and the value of his value of star power reached a level that prompted him to transition into big budget motion pictures. Eventually, Dwayne The Rock Johnson went from selling out stadiums and arenas across the country, to turning out crowds at movie theaters. After starring in primarily action films like The Scorpion King and Doom, the silver screen hero turned his sights on a lighter tone of movie. This children’s film, The Gameplan, would call for a location that North Andover was happily able to provide.

The Lawrence Municipal Airport, although named for a neighboring city, is located just adjacent to the downtown area of North Andover. For years the two runway airport has served as not as a pit stop for movie stars, but for small aircraft and pilots traversing New England. In addition to being the site of occasional school field trips, it also provides a flight school for independent and recreational fliers. Opened in 1934, it has long been a well known and established part of the town. So when it was chosen to double as a rundown African airport for the plot of The Gameplan, it was a humbling honor to say the least for the area’s only means of flight. Nonetheless, the townspeople for the most part weren’t bothered by this, but rather overlooked the context and embraced the prospect of big time Hollywood filmmaking transcending into their community. Just like would be the case one year later, all attention shifted to the larger than life visitors from out of town.

For North Andover citizen Michelle Doucette, it was an exciting experience. A single mother of three who lives just several blocks away from the airport, Michelle was subject to the commotion and curiosity that gathered around the area.

“At first I didn’t know what was going on,” Michelle recalls. “I was coming home with the kids and there were police cars and people gathering around watching. The entire road was closed off and the traffic was backed up.” On an average day, this would seem very out of the ordinary for someone traveling their normal route and noticing such an ordeal. “I figured it must have been an accident or something at the airport,” Michelle says. “I didn’t find out until I called my father that there was a movie with The Rock being filmed.” Others, however, had heard through the grapevine or been tipped off early enough to come prepared with cameras and t-shirts sporting their hero. As others noticed and joined, the crowd grew and The Rock even made an appearance to sign a few autographs and wave to the crowd. Even several of the police officers who were on duty became part of the excitement and were given autographs.

Aside from their momentary lapse in the staunch upholding of law and order, the police department had a big role to play in allowing such a thrilling event to take place. But some measures need to be taken to ensure the overwhelmed citizens don’t go too far or become disorderly.

“It really depends on the situation,” explains North Andover Police Sergeant T.J McEvoy. “A lot of people showed up for this which was expected. We had to keep people out of the airport and close a few roads, so they let us know beforehand and we put officers on duty.”

Here, the issue became a public matter and was arranged ahead of time with town resources, unlike filming on private property. Due to isolation and the closing of passageways, onlookers weren’t able to get too close to the actual production. But for one North Andover citizen this wasn’t the case.  Joe’s Landing is a restaurant and coffee shop located in the terminal of the Lawrence Municipal Airport. Serving breakfast and lunch to pilots and passengers, as well as frequent town patrons, Joe Chedid’s small establishment has become almost as much a part of the local landscape as the airport itself. Joe Chedid is an average sized man with a thin mustache and no hair to match, dressed in a t-shirt and jeans covered with a stained apron. Speaking with a heavy Lebanese accent, Joe is very talkative, especially when it comes to the topic of his brush with fame. When the airport, and as a result, his restaurant were closed for filming, Chedid demanded he be there to oversee the events.

“It was rowdy.  People were poking their heads in from the outside trying to peek,” says Chedid. “They came in with trucks and limos. There were all kinds of cars and caterers with food. They took over and painted things, changed things around and everything. They changed it to look like la-la land”

The “la-la land” he refers to is the illusion of an African environment with high grass for the purposes of the movie plot. Even with the seemingly invasive arrival of the visitors, Chedid had no issues with it. For him, it was more than just an exciting day, but educational as well. “I never knew anything about movies,” Chedid admits while pouring coffee for some afterhours visitors. “So much goes into it, and now I get why they cost so much money. It was interesting how seriously and hard they worked. It was a great experience.” As for the talk of the town left behind after the big spectacle, when asked how much of a topic it has become among his patrons Chedid says, “Oh yeah forget about it. Everybody knows and everybody wants to know about the day The Rock was here.” As much time is spent reminiscing on the big day, Chedid hopes it won’t be the last, “I’d love for it to happen again. It puts you on the map.”

After so much commotion and interest, all remnants of Hollywood in the small town of North Andover are gone. The community goes back to its daily normalcy, and the old men outside of the donut shop go back to telling the same stories and greeting the same people doing the same things. But now they’re left with a new story to add to the repertoire, and perhaps another big day to look forward to. As it was with Joe Chedid’s restaurant, so too is it with the townspeople. “Then after everything…nothing. It’s like they never came.”