'Blue Ruin' comes to Cape Region

It’s 10 p.m. on Sunday of Labor Day weekend, and a film crew is setting up in the parking lot of the Coastal Wine & Spirits liquor store in Milton. Not exactly what one might think of as a likely set for a movie, but director and writer Jeremy Saulnier said it’s perfect for scenes from “Blue Ruin,” his independent film.

Store-owner Sally Harris said that months ago, lead actor Macon Blair and Saulnier came into her store. “They were looking around for a roadhouse tavern, which this was at one time.” From there, they began enacting a vision that included our beach communities, where the film’s revenge plot begins.

The cast and crew shot throughout Sussex County from Aug. 31 through Sept. 3, hitting spots such as Bethany Beach, Rehoboth Beach, Georgetown and Milton, where they found a dimly lit parking lot for a scene where Blair had to bust out a car window in order to a obtain a gun.

Blair plays a beach-bum character whose life becomes disturbed by the events in the film. The cast and crew were very tight-lipped about the plot, leaving details to the imagination. Saulnier says he had the idea for this film brewing in his head for a long time.

In January, he said, he decided it was time to pull the trigger on the project, and he banged out a first draft of the screen play. He knew he wanted to land somewhere in the genre of revenge, but after the first draft, the script seemed a little disingenuous to him. “I wanted less glorified violence,” he says, and he wanted to serve a broader audience.

Because Saulnier’s background includes more avant-garde pieces, it seemed logical that he should bring together a film that would strike a balance between mainstream and avant-garde, also combining high entertainment value with quality craftsmanship. While the cast and crew may look young, they have a lot of industry experience and an air of professionalism that commands notice.

“We’re looking for a cowboy” a female crew member says to Harry Holtgrewe, who is donning a pair of cowboy boots and whose hat sits on the counter of the liquor store. He’s planning on being at the shoot all night, so he agrees to be a part of the film, laughing as he jokes, “Today I’m a cowboy, tomorrow I’m an astronaut.”

It’s all part of the subtle infectiousness that a movie brings to town, no matter how low its budget. Producer Richard Peete can relate; He said he came into the project almost blind: He had read the script, but he had never met Saulnier.

The two of them now appear to enjoy working together. They busy themselves before shooting begins, positioning cars, repositioning cars, fiddling with lighting and assembling and moving the dolly and cart.

Hours of set-up time give way to moments of shooting, but that is all a part of the magic of movie making. From the quiet of our beach areas, the cast and crew will move on to shooting in New York and then back down to Virginia to wrap a few final days. Sauliner says that the editing of the film will be fast-tracked so the team can premiere at film festivals as soon as possible.

Film buffs can hope “Blue Ruin” will be shown at the Rehoboth Beach Film Festival next year, so locals can get a glimpse of the Cape Region’s great beaches and local towns on the big screen.