MATAWAN – One day over the summer, a young man wandered into Stillwell Garage, which has been repairing cars in Matawan for over 70 years, to take some photos.
“He looked like a college student who was doing a side project, making his own film,” garage owner Chris Lacerre said. “We told him, ‘Sure, why not?’ A lot of people probably would have brushed him off, but I thought, what could it hurt?”
The young photographer took his photos and left.
“Then he came back with a bigger group,” Lacerre said.
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Turns out, this was no college side project. The photographer was part of the location crew for “Song Sung Blue,” a major motion picture starring Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson. The musical drama, which is based on a 2008 documentary, is about a downtrodden Milwaukee couple’s formation of a Neil Diamond tribute band and the midlife revival that followed. There is no release date yet.
On Monday the production crew descended on the garage, which is tucked into Jackson Street just a block west of Main Street. Filming began Wednesday and runs through Friday, with the shop closed all three days. After leaving Wednesday’s shoot, Jackman waved to onlookers who had gathered outside.
“When they come in your whole world changes and very quickly — they do not mess around,” Lacerre said. “The amount of equipment and amount of manpower, the logistics of what they pull off, is remarkable.”
He added, “It’s nice to be able to bring this to the community.”
The community should be used to it by now. This is the fifth high-profile movie or television show to shoot on location in Matawan over the past five years.
“For this tiny two-mile town, there so much production going on,” borough historian Kurtis Roinestad said. “Matawan has a lot of unique features.”
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‘A film-ready town’
Boasting a quaint downtown with scores of well-preserved historical buildings and homes, Matawan has drawn the attention of filmmakers. With Netflix building a television and film studio on the grounds of the former Fort Monmouth in nearby Eatontown, “we became a film-ready town,” Matawan mayor Joe Altomonte said.
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As explained by borough administrator Ryan Michelson, Matawan officials adopted an ordinance streamlining permits needed for filming to take place — things like road closures and finding space for production trailers.
“It’s a way producers will know this is a place that’s friendly to film productions,” Michelson said. “We’ll work with them.”
Examples abound:
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All this activity, Altomonte said, “puts Matawan in the spotlight — in a good way.”
‘We love this wood paneling’
Familiarity with the area from a previous movie shoot is what led the “Song Sung Blue” location team to scour Matawan for potential sites.
“They wanted to shoot a scene in the garage,” Lacerre said. “They were in our office and saw the wood paneling in the office and said, ‘We love this wood paneling.’”
Then Lacerre took them upstairs. Stillwell Garage, whose original owner was the brother of Lester Stillwell — a 12-year-old victim of the infamous 1916 shark attack in Matawan Creek that inspired the book-turned-movie “Jaws” — has customer families dating back three generations and décor to match.
“It’s wall-to-wall wood paneling,” Lacerre said. “Very dated with a nice, vintage look to it. They saw that and this morphed into them taking over the place. They came back with a busload of people.”
Lacerre said the producers are compensating the shop for the three-day closure.
“We scouted the location and loved it,” said Fernanda Reuel, a film crew location assistant. “It was what the script called for.”
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On Wednesday, as Lacerre and Matawan officials watched the set buzz with activity along Jackson Street, they were asked if any Neil Diamond fans were among them.
“Absolutely,” Roinestad said. “Who’s not?”
Jerry Carino is community columnist for the Asbury Park Press, focusing on the Jersey Shore’s interesting people, inspiring stories and pressing issues. Contact him at [email protected].
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