Moviemakers using local sites Museum, inn to be in `Wonderful'

ALLEGAN -- If Allegan County wasn't nice enough before, it just got ``Wonderful.''

A Tennessee-based film-production crew called the Extra/Ordinary Film Project is in the midst of making 12 feature-length films in 12 months. The latest project is a screenplay titled ``Wonderful'' and is being filmed in several Michigan cities, including Allegan and Flint.

Filming in Allegan began Oct. 24 at the Old Jail Museum and the Delano Inn. This is the third time a movie has been filmed in Allegan.

``Wonderful'' is the holiday story of George Beaman, a dreamer with a fixation on the movie ``It's a Wonderful Life,'' who on Christmas Eve is seeking to get back together with his wife and children and turn his fortunes around, only to be confronted with a whole series of new problems ranging from poverty to jail.

Allegan and surrounding cities will serve as the backdrop for ``Wonderful.'' The cast will include Michigan actors and extras.

The Extra/Ordinary Film Project is made up of three family members. Jon Russell Cring is the director and producer, and his wife, Tracy Nichole Cring, is the cinematographer and editor. The screenplay was written by the director's father, Jonathan Richard Cring, a recent recipient of the Best Screenplay Award at the Top Ten Films in America.

According to the director, the script is a good fit for the crew because of their family tradition. They watch ``It's a Wonderful Life'' every Christmas and do about two hours of trivia after the movie.

The script follows the tradition of ``It's a Wonderful Life'' and ``A Christmas Carol,'' but with some twists.

``I would say, like all Christmas movies, it's going to have elements of humor in it,'' Jon Russell Cring said. ``But it's more about fantasy taking over someone's life.''

In ``Wonderful,'' the main character is down on his own life because he dreams of having a life like George Bailey's in ``It's a Wonderful Life.'' He's always waiting for something magical to happen, while missing the magic of reality.

Instead of being shown a fantasy to make him change his real life, George is shown real life to make him change his fantasy.

He even makes connections with people he sees to characters in the movies. They don't act like the characters, but he wants so badly to have that connection like in Bedford Falls.

``He wants to be that loved, but he doesn't want to make it happen,'' Cring said. ``He's waiting for an angel to come and change his life. He has to see that people act as angels for each other.''

That's why he's in jail on Christmas Eve -- he's threatening to jump off a bridge so his angel will come and save him. He tries to explain this to the police officer, but he gets thrown in jail instead.

And instead of being shown an alternative reality to shock sense into him, the main character is taken, in the present time, to see how things happen in life -- good and bad.

``The true meaning of family and the importance of taking his own life by the horns and doing something great himself,'' Cring said. ``Having his own wonderful life.''

The crew picked Michigan because they were familiar with the area and particularly liked the ``Christmasy'' feel of places like Frankenmuth. Cring said he wanted the rough look of Flint and the beautiful Victorian homes in Allegan. They plan to combine those two locations with Canterbury Village in Lake Orion to make the film.

Canterbury Village will host the dream sequence of the movie, in which Santa Claus talks like Jimmy Stewart.

``What I love about our movies is they're relatable,'' Cring said. ``Ordinary people put into extraordinary situations. Everyone's life is a epic, they just don't realize it.''

The team is planning to distribute ``Wonderful'' themselves and are planning to premiere the movie in the area in December.

More information

Call: Jon Russell Cring at (615) 715-1578

Online: www.extraordinaryfilmproject.com.