AUBURN — Sun peeked through the treetops in thick, rolling woods behind Beech Hill Road that on this afternoon were standing in for woods in the pre-Civil War South.
Half a dozen actors in period costumes shot, strangled, cussed and brawled, brushing dried leaves off after each take just to do it all over again.
“You can hit me with whatever you want to as long as the stick breaks,” one actor cracked to another in a thick southern accent between takes.
Director Colby Michaud describes “The Damned One,” his first feature-length film, as a supernatural Western that came to him one winter night 18 months ago.
He started the rigorous weekend shooting schedule in June; it’ll wrap in August. There’s already a premiere date for the film, which has been shot entirely around Lewiston-Auburn: Dec. 8 at the Franco Center.
“It’s more of a celebration of not just the film, (but) of the community coming together to make this happen,” said Michaud, 27.
Michaud has headed Praxis Production Studios in Lewiston for the past seven years, making commercial videos for clients around Maine. He’s had a longtime interest in filmmaking and has written several screenplays.
“The Damned One” began as he stood outside one night in January 2016 and a scene popped into his head: a cowboy walking in a blizzard happening upon an English gentleman working at his desk, outside, in the middle of a field.
“I ran back inside and I took out my phone and I recorded the scene, both characters, (talking) back and forth,” Michaud said. “The next day, the first person I call about this idea was Bernie (Button). Then I started to write.”
Button, from Lewiston, became that cowboy, John Tyler. Jennifer Fox plays his new wife, Dixie. Sean Wallace plays the leader of a gang that jumps them. Paul Menezes, Glenn Atkins and Erik Moody round out the cast.
The story follows the husband and wife during a cattle drive up North that goes so wrong John finds himself weighing whether he’s willing to sell his soul to save his wife.
Button was born and raised in Texas, but he’s lived in Maine the past 11 years. He met Michaud through Lewiston-Auburn Community Little Theatre.
“I was totally enthralled with (the original pitch),” said Button, who joked that he had to refresh his accent for the role. “I had to go on YouTube and get a couple videos, ‘Oh, yeah, that’s how all that sounds again.'”
Fox, the who teaches theater at Lisbon High School, pulls double duty as actor and costume designer — even making her own dress from a period pattern — and she supplied the woods. A chunk of the movie is shot in the 15 acres behind her house.
“I’m used to acting for the stage so everything happens in the moment and you go through the whole story every time,” said Fox, taking a break on set Sunday. “Having opportunities to try it again and try it again instead of waiting for the next night to try it for a new audience is really, really great.”
“The Damned One” is co-written by Linda Hildonen and with developer Tom Platz and Chip Morrison, the retired longtime chamber president, as co-executive producers.
Michaud and Platz both serve on the Public Theatre board.
“He came up to me and said, ‘Hey, I hear you’re making a movie,'” Michaud said. “What’s interesting about Tom, he’s a very good photographer. It seemed like it was a natural fit for him to be involved in a film project; he hadn’t produced a film before.”
Platz formed Ztalp Productions (Platz spelled backward) specifically to help work on the film, Michaud said.
Paying for equipment and paying the cast have been the low-budget film’s largest expenses.
“There’s tremendous value in what (the actors) do,” Michaud said. “We can’t spend tons of money on this, but something tangible was important to me.”
He plans to write the score for the movie in October, debut it in early December, submit it to at least 100 film festivals across the U.S. and then move on to the next: Michaud hopes to go into pre-production for his next film in January.
He’d like to get into a pattern of writing in the winter, rehearsing in the spring and shooting in the summer.
“When people come to see this, I think it’s going to be a lot more than what they’re expecting,” Button said. “It’s not just pride coming out of this, because there’s so many of us involved. Colby has a great vision, not just for this but what comes after it.”
