The action certainly has ramped up at two Wilton locations being used by a movie production company as it shoots scenes in town for a Netflix movie, Mr. Harrigan’s Phone.
On Monday, Nov. 15, Allen’s Meadow (420 Danbury Rd.) served as a staging area for the production, with dozens of cars, trucks and movie trailers assembled at the larger parking lot to the west of the meadow, and an extra-large catering tent was erected in the smaller parking lot to the east.
Further south on Danbury Rd., scenes from the movie are being shot at the former Wilton Baptist Church (254 Danbury Rd.). There, crew members were seen with lights and production gear outside the building, along with movie trailers, and other set elements. It appears as if some of the pews were removed from the interior of the chapel to make room inside for the actual production.
On Monday, the production was reportedly shooting a funeral scene, and Tuesday’s set, there may be the addition of snowy exteriors.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, the movie is being produced for Netflix by Ryan Murphy and horror movie producer Jason Blum (Blumhouse) and directed by John Lee Hancock (The Blind Side, Saving Mr. Banks) for a 2022 release. It’s an adaptation of Stephen King‘s short story of the same name from his latest anthology, If It Bleeds (2020).
The movie stars Donald Sutherland (M*A*S*H, The Hunger Games, Ordinary People) and 18-year-old Jaeden Martell, who starred in King’s It movies and Knives Out, and is slated for the remake of The Lost Boys. The duo plays an odd-couple pair of friends — a young boy and a reclusive billionaire. When the older man dies and his cell phone is slipped into the casket before the funeral, the boy discovers “Can you hear me now?” goes beyond the grave.
A production contact declined to say exactly when or how many days the movie crew would be working at the site.
The movie has been shooting at several Fairfield County locations, including at Westport’s Sherwood Island State Park, the Ridgefield Playhouse in Ridgefield, and the Lockwood-Mathews Mansion in Norwalk.