Movie stars

There are some real movie stars in the area right now, filming Nights in Rodanthe, the movie based on the book by Nicholas Sparks. (Richard Gere and Diane Lane, in case you were wondering.) The movie crew has been working on Hatteras Island, and did some shooting on the north end of Ocracoke this past weekend. I don't know whether Richard or Diane have spent any time on the island or not.

I am not a big fan of Nicholas Sparks' books or movies. I did read Nights in Rodanthe, and found it predictable. I would not be planning to see the movie if it had not been shot on the Outer Banks. Since it was, though, I will definitely watch it (although I'll get it from Netflix, rather than paying to see it in the theater), if only to look for the faces and names of my friends who are involved with the production.

Here are the people from Ocracoke (at least those I know of) who will be either in the film, or in the credits:
- Marcy Brenner and Lou Castro (collectively "Coyote") are recording music for the film, and will also appear as musicians in it
- Cynthia Mitchell (yes, my voice coach) is the dialect coach, helping the actors with Southern and Outer Banks pronunciation (she was also the dialect coach for The Butcher's Wife, in which Demi Moore played a woman from Ocracoke, although the Outer Banks footage was shot on Cape Lookout)
- someone else told me that David Tolson provided recorded examples of the Ocracoke brogue speech pattern

Watch for the movie, which will be released in June 2008, according to the Internet Movie Database (imdb.com).