Zelienople becomes movie location
ZELIENOPLE — Crews of men and women with cameras, mics and lights descended on this small borough, shutting down traffic Thursday night and making Zelienople the latest Butler County town to appear in a major motion picture.
Crowds gathered at the intersection of New Castle and Main streets at around 8 p.m. to watch the crew of Netflix's “Mindhunter” shoot a scene in front of the Strand Theater.
A massive crane stood in the middle of the street providing overhead lighting while crews rushed around checking equipment, tying up loose ends and preparing townspeople who volunteered to be in the scene.
As the filming got under way, show producers and police had bystanders clear the road to prevent any accidental modernity in the background.
Meanwhile behind the barricades and studio lighting, Judith Aitken-Edwards of Harmony and her son, Chad Aitken of McCandless Township, were allowed to stay, invited by director David Fincher to watch from the comfort of the director's seat.
“I thought it was very special to be asked to sit in the director's chair,” Aitkens-Edwards said.
Chad Aitken met Fincher last year when he was picked to be a stand-in for one of the show's main characters: Holt McCallany's character Bill Tench.
Aitken introduced his mother to Fincher and Fincher's wife, film producer Ceán Chaffin, earlier in the evening.
“We just chatted a little, and he said, 'You're welcome to sit in the chairs over there,'” Aitkens-Edwards said.
She looked at her son and asked him if that would be all right.
“He said 'Mother, yes, if David Fincher said to sit in his chair, yes, you are permitted,'” she said.
So they did.
Aitkens-Edwards said she was impressed with the famous couple's consideration of her and her son and at the kindness of such renowned people.
“For them to come up to us was very special,” she said. “David is such an influential man ... (And) his wife was very busy. Then she said (to us), 'If you'd like to get a coffee, they had a tab.'”
Her son got two coffees and the two of them sat and watched the filming.
“I and my son sat there for probably two and a half hours,' she said. “I just thought ... that's kind of special.”
Down the road, crowds watched the crews rushing through the streets, setting up equipment and arranging even the tiniest details on prop cars road signs.
Borough Police Chief Jim Miller laid out the scene at the last council meeting earlier this month.
“Here's what the scene consists of: a car drives up with a couple on a date. They pull up in front of the Strand Theater on the other side. They have an argument, and they leave,” he said.
The show is paying for added police presence to help with traffic and came to agreements with local businesses for the inconvenience, Miller said.Jack McMillin, borough resident and former Butler County controller, had the chance to observe the preparations during the past few days and got to joke around a bit with crew members.“It's amazing the logistics required for such a short scene,” he said. “I talked to the crew ... The setting for this series on Netflix is 1977. I said I had a 1977 leisure suit I'd be more than willing to break out and wear if they put me in as an extra. He laughed.”McMillin started watching the show on Netflix after he heard they'd be coming to town and said he liked it, though people should know before starting it that it's quite dark.“You need to have a strong (stomach),” he said. “It's good.”McMillin and Charles “Chubby” Underwood, former borough council member, watched the crews working that night and said they thought the borough and the surrounding area was a perfect place to shoot the show.“It's small town America,” McMillin said. “That's what's great about Butler County.”“One of the best towns I think,” Underwood said. “They did one in Harmony when I was in Fire Police. It took them three or four days.”Fortunately for commuters, crews only needed until 1 a.m. Friday morning and quickly packed up their gear and cleared the roads for morning drivers.“Mindhunter” is a show on Netflix about the lives of FBI agents Holden Ford and Bill Tench, and their efforts to construct the FBI's Behavioral Science Unit within the Training Division at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Va. They did this in large part by interviewing and analyzing imprisoned serial killers, using their findings to understand present and future crimes and criminals.The show is shooting its second season around Western Pennsylvania.
