Time capsule: Jefferson Township woman’s barn becomes movie set
The barren landscape produced by winter in Western Pennsylvania brought several famous actors and a Hollywood production crew to farms in Butler County in 2008 to film a movie that would be released in November 2009.
Karen Foertsch owned a 46-acre farm that dated back to 1832 where several scenes were filmed for the movie “The Road,” which stars Viggo Mortensen and Robert Duvall. On Nov. 19, 2009, Foertsch remembered a scene where Mortensen, who starred in the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, walks up to her barn and views a mother, father and child hanging lifeless by a rope.
Foertsch received $3,000 for one day of movie shooting on her property and the producers gave her another $1,500 to clean up all the hay they spread around her barn. She also talked casually with Mortensen at her farm when he offered her a hamburger.
“I guess it’s my brush with fame,” Foertsch said.
