In a gallery at Cameron Art Museum—under dozens of cardboard monkeys; part of the James Grashow exhibit currently on display—Britt Robertson, Scott Eastwood and fellow actor Gloria Reuben mingle among a room of well-dressed extras, all of them portraying art gallery goers.
Reuben’s character—Robertson’s boss, whom her character, Sophia, is trying to impress—asks Eastwood’s character, Luke, if he goes to college with her.
“No, never made it to college,” Luke replies bluntly.
“He’s a professional bull rider,” Sophia notes.
“That’s fascinating,” her boss says. “I’ve never met a professional bull rider.”
An awkward pause later, she adds: “What do you think of tonight?”
“Honestly?” Luke asks. “Of course,” she replies.
“I think there’s more [cow dung] here than where I work,” he says, his lines using the expletive instead.
Reuben’s character laughs, then tells Sophia: “Keep this one. I like him.”
Eastwood gives Robertson a told-you-so look, then stomps off, followed by an aghast-looking Sophia.
The scene ends, and crew members swarm the gallery to set up the next take. “Resetting; quiet please,” is repeated throughout the space.
The three actors take their places and perform the scene again—and again, and again, until they get the takes they need.
That was the scene at the Cameron on Thursday, where filming was in full swing for “The Longest Ride”—the Nicholas Sparks film adaptation that has been shooting in Wilmington since mid-June.
Fresh off her departure from “Under the Dome,” the television series that is also filming here, Robertson seemed relaxed in what should prove to be her biggest leading role, taking time to knit in between scenes.
Robertson stars opposite Eastwood, who said he is enjoying his first time in Wilmington. The pair recently dined at the downtown restaurant 9, and Robertson said Eastwood has been enjoying the beach.
For Robertson, who has come to know Wilmington well while filming “Under the Dome,” “The Longest Ride” has been a convenient project—easing her transition from television to film.
Related story: ‘Under the Dome’ actress cast in ‘The Longest Ride’
“It’s been a really easy transition,” she said. “All my friends are here from ‘Under the Dome.’ They haven’t finished yet, so I’ve had an abundance of people around me, which is great for the time off. And also, it’s just—it’s like home.”
That the two projects filmed in the same city was a coincidence for Robertson, who said she was finished with “Under the Dome” before she started work on “The Longest Ride.”
“I was done with ‘Under the Dome’ before I started on this, but it did sort of feel like overlap because we were on Screen Gems originally when we first got here, just doing some prep stuff. So I got to sneak over and say hey to everyone, which was great.”
“The Longest Ride” tells the story of a college student, played by Robertson, who falls for a bull rider, played by Eastwood. Their present-day love story is intertwined with that of an elderly man, whose late wife appears to him after a car crash.
The film—the latest Sparks adaptation to shoot in the Wilmington area, after “A Walk to Remember,” “Nights in Rodanthe” and “Safe Haven”—is produced by Marty Bowen, who also produced “Safe Haven.” It is directed by George Tillman Jr., whose credits include “Soul Food” and “Men of Honor,” and costars include Alan Alda, Oona Chaplin and Jack Huston.
Bowen, who calls Sparks “the poet laureate of the Carolinas,” said “The Longest Ride” has been challenging in that it involves many locations, but he said the Wilmington area was a natural fit for locations like the Cameron.
“If you’re going to do a movie that’s based in North Carolina, you might as well go where the best crew is and the most willing supporters in the community are,” he said.
“The greatest thing about shooting in Cameron Art Museum—and I can talk about how helpful the people are and how beautiful the art is and they let us actually use some of the art that was actually one of the exhibits here—but I think given the way the weather was last week, just knowing that you could be inside with air conditioning makes it the best blessing of them all.”
Anne Brennan, the museum’s executive director, said hosting “The Longest Ride” has been mutually beneficial.
“It’s the most favorable partnership—particularly our experience with 20th Century Fox with ‘The Longest Ride’ has been beautiful,” she said. “They are highly professional. To work with a team of artists here at the museum is really a dream come true for us.”
Noting the movie is featuring current exhibits, such as the Grashow exhibit in the gallery, Brennan said the filming’s effects will be felt well beyond this week’s shoot.
“It’s lucrative for the museum; it’s lucrative for local artists,” she said. “One of the premiere places for the filming is our Hughes Wing, and we’re featuring the solo exhibition of Jimmy Brashow’s work, and Jimmy has benefited from this. So it’s reaching all the portals that we are most interested in. It’s been fabulous.”
“The Longest Ride” is slated to hit theaters in 2015.
Related stories:
- Nicholas Sparks movie ‘The Longest Ride’ to film in Wilmington
- Second Sparks film, ‘The Choice,’ to film in Wilmington this year
- Southport gets first look at ‘Safe Haven’
Jonathan Spiers is a reporter for Port City Daily. He can be reached at (910) 772-6313 or [email protected]. On Twitter: @jrspiers
