Zelienople elated about filming of 'American Rust'
ZELIENOPLE — July 22 was a busy day for the crews filming “American Rust,” a Showtime series partly shot in Butler County.
They'd already filmed in Jackson Township, Harmony and, finally, Zelienople, where at the last location they shot multiple scenes outside of a South High Street house.
For Jack McMillin, the homeowner of that house, it had been the culmination of weeks of effort, and an enjoyable one at that.
McMillin said he'd first heard of the opportunity for the scenes to be shot at his house when paper flyers were stuffed into the door handles of his and several neighbors' houses.“The homes that received flyers in this area were similar in some respects to mine,” McMillin said. “They all had detached garages, and the scene in my backyard required a detached garage.”It was ultimately the appearance of his house — an early 20th-century Craftsman-style building — that gave his the upper hand.Since he saw the flyer about six weeks ago, McMillin said he's had a slew of production personnel to his house, including carpenters, scenery personnel and those working on design. He said there was a “greenery crew” that planted and tended to some specific parts of his yard.“I can't thank them enough,” he said. “They replaced an old entrance door to my detached garage, which was deteriorating; they replaced my rear door into my home. The carpentry shop matched up the rear entry door to my front door.”Not only that, McMillin said, the crews also sodded the bare spots in his backyard and allowed him to keep two bronze sconces they'd installed for the scenes.“I've had nothing but favorable comments about them,” he added.
Filming began mid-afternoon and, including a break, lasted until about 1 a.m. July 23, McMillin said.The afternoon shot, which he described as “relatively short,” involved an actor walking up the sidewalk to McMillin's porch and knocking on the door.It was the evening filming that took more effort.At that time, an actor exited the rear door of McMillin's house, walked the sidewalk to his detached garage and placed his head against the garage's door in a somber manner.McMillin said the director did multiple takes of that scene, which also included having a Zelienople electric worker cutting off the power to a nearby streetlight, so they could get the lighting right.“For the night shoot, the design folks that came into my home had lighting set up in three rooms here in my home to create the proper lighting effect emitted from the home for the scene,” he said. “They really made my house glow, and they had this veil that (was) put over the windows so ... it just created the right ambiance.”Not only that, McMillin said, he was able to speak with the actors, whom he described as “down-to-earth” people.It wasn't just him, either.“There was an audience here that night, well up until the early morning hour when they finally concluded things,” he said. “It was the biggest excitement we've had here on South High Street in some time.”
