By DAVID A. MANN
Evading social workers, a religious 12-year-old girl runs away from an abusive home and meets up with an ill-tempered homeless veteran.
A corrupt mayor and police chief concoct a plan to frame the veteran as a kidnapper — all in an attempt to use the story to win re-election.
And it happened in Jeffersonville. Well, not really.
It’s the plot of the new, locally produced film titled “Clancy,” which was released last week in Louisville. Many of the movie’s scenes were filmed in Jeffersonville, and New Albany resident and actor Tom Luce plays a key role. Several actors from Derby Dinner Playhouse also were cast in supporting roles.
“We picked Jeffersonville because it had that small, hometown look to it,” said Jefferson Moore, who wrote, directed and stars in the film.
Jeffersonville is the setting for the fictional town of Cheneyville, where young Clancy Miller (Christina Dawn Fougnie) and homeless Nick (Moore) flee after running into trouble in the big city. Cheneyville is named after the former vice president, who was giving a speech on television while Moore was writing the story.
The scenes shot in Southern Indiana provide a great contrast between those filmed in Louisville, he said.
“We got this big, cold urban city look in Louisville, then you cross the bridge and you’re in Mayberry,” he said, referring to the setting of TV classic “The Andy Griffith Show.”
Filming was done between January and May 2008. It’s not the first time Jeffersonville has been used for such scenes. Shots of the city decorated around Christmastime will be used in an upcoming film coming this December.
“I love the story,” said Luce, who plays corrupt police chief Thomas Payne.
At first glance, the idea of a politician framing a homeless veteran for political gain sounds a bit far-fetched, he admits. But considering some of the headlines, this kind of thing could happen in real life, he said.
“People have done worse.”
The film is produced by Louisville-based Kelly’s Filmworks. It opened in 13 cities last weekend and Lionsgates Films is among companies interested in distributing it on a national level, according to a post-premier press release. The film sold out last weekend at Village 8 Theater in Louisville. It’s being held over there for one more week.
“We’re just really happy with the turnout,” Moore said. He believes the American public is fed up with R-rated movies and computer-generated visuals and are interested in family-oriented stories such as “Clancy.”
