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Jenna Elfman and Paul Wilson bring glamour and small-town vibes to Arizona premiere of 'Big Stone Gap'

Paul Wilson and Jenna Elfman pose for a photograph during the red carpet event for the premiere of Big Stone Gap on Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2015, at Scottsdale Fashion Square Mall in Scottsdale.
Paul Wilson and Jenna Elfman pose for a photograph during the red carpet event for the premiere of Big Stone Gap on Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2015, at Scottsdale Fashion Square Mall in Scottsdale.

On Wednesday evening, Scottsdale received a taste of Hollywood mixed with quaint Virginia as the cast and director of “Big Stone Gap” walked the red carpet at the Scottsdale Fashion Square for its Arizona premiere.

“Big Stone Gap” follows several months in the life of a self-proclaimed spinster, Ave Maria Mulligan (Ashley Judd) and her friends, suitors and residents of Big Stone Gap, Virginia. Ave lives a sleepy life built on tradition— like in most small towns, nothing really happens in Big Stone Gap. Ave is quickly awakened from the banality of small town life when her mother’s death exposes a family secret that could shake up all of Big Stone Gap.

At the helm of the film sits Adriana Trigiani, who directed and adapted the screenplay from her own novel that shares the same name and was published in 2000. Joining her at the premiere were Jenna Elfman and Paul Wilson who animated the supporting cast.

Converting “Big Stone Gap” from the page to the screen has been a passion project of Trigiani’s for many years. Fortunately, she was able to break free from the writing department and bring to life “Big Stone Gap” as her narrative directorial debut.

“(Big Stone Gap) started as a screenplay,” Trigiani said. “I made a documentary, it won prizes and I got the opportunity to write this screenplay. When I’d finished the screenplay, a friend of mine told me I should make it a novel because the characters were so rich. I fell in love with writing the novel and who knew it would take so long to make it a movie.”

“Big Stone Gap” is a very personal story to Trigiani. She grew up in the titular town, writing the novel and subsequently directing the film as a love song to her birthplace and townsfolk. 

“My inspiration for writing the screenplay was to write a fictional narrative of my town,” Trigiani said. “It was based on the fact that I’d been to Italy and I noticed that my relatives in the mountains of northern Italy had similar customs to the relatives I grew up with in the mountains of Virginia.”

This sentimentality for childhood and origins affected the whole production. Paul Wilson, a Virginia native, plays Lyle, a very ordinary townsman. He got the chance to work with his older brother Patrick ("The Conjuring," "Insidious"), who plays Ave’s love interest. Wilson recalled an important moment at the beginning of the shoot.

“It was bittersweet for the Wilson family because our grandmother had just passed away before the shooting, but it was incredible arriving in the production office and seeing our grandmother’s coat,” Wilson said. “Someone had donated my grandmother’s coat. It was an indelible memory because Patrick and I were talking about she was watching and after seeing her name — ‘Carol Wilson’ — still sewed inside, we knew.”

In an effort to be truly authentic, the whole film was shot in Big Stone Gap. The locale helped Jenna Elfman build her character Iva, the town librarian.
  

“The love and support of the townspeople meant a lot to me,” Elfman said. “They were so happy we were there bringing life to their town and their story. I was born and raised in L.A. and no one cherishes anything there. It’s a whole lot of bullshit in that city. To go into a town where people still value the meanings they make with each other is very refreshing.”

“Big Stone Gap” opens on Friday and will be playing at AMC Dine-in Theatres Esplanade 14, AMC Mesa Grand 24, AMC Ahwatukee 24. It stars Ashley Judd, Patrick Wilson, Whoopi Goldberg, Jane Krakowski, John Benjamin Hickey, Jenna Elfman and Paul Wilson. 

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Reach the reporter at tanner.stechnij@asu.edu or follow @tannerstechnij on Twitter.

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