My story about "Super 8"

[Talk Host]

Have you seen the new Steven Spielberg sci-fi thriller "Super 8?" Here's my story. It was filmed in my hometown of Weirton, WV. Although the fictional town is "Lillian, Ohio," it was actually in Weirton.

I grew up in the midst of all those scenes you see in the movie. I knew them all.

It was a great thrill for me to see that for a couple of reasons. I still have family there who watched it being made. But more so because they needed some good times. Weirton Steel Company, when I was growing up, employed 10s of thousands of people. All my friends and their fathers worked in the mill. Now, it's a ghost town, scratching out a living. Many, many, many, many locals were used as extras, some with speaking parts and lots of their old cars (70s) were used.

For Hollywood to select Weirton as the setting was a truly unexpected blessing. Some experts say that towns where these kinds of movies are shot become movie buff destinations.

In any event, it was hard for me to not jump up in the theater and say, "I know all those places.....I played pinball in that bus terminal.....That's Marland Height school, where I hung out.....that's PennWay Pharmacy where we sat at the soda fountain....and on and on.

http://www.wvpubcast.org/newsarticle.aspx?id=16755
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27Nq3UcblO8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5ccmcs5jTI

[missypie]

That must have just been exciting for you. It's good to feel the memories of past. Thanks for sharing!

[2newyorkers]

I like knowing it was someone's home town and not a movie set.

[Freeda]

Thanks for sharing this! It was a great movie, and as I watched it I was wondering how they filmed it, with all of the nostalgic scenes, cars, etc from the 70s; its fun to reminisce. The movie has some great action and scary scenes.

[Talk Host]

I think I saw where this movie is leading the box office.

[2BNTV]

I haven't seen it but I will the weekend of July 4. I am happy for you this film was made in your hometown. It must give it a special meaning to you.

Any film that Spielberg does is usually great. I plan on enjoying this movie.

[LI SNOWBIRD]

I haven't seen it but I will the weekend of July 4. I am happy for you this film was made in your hometown. It must give it a special meaning to you.

Any film that Spielberg does is usually great. I plan on enjoying this movie.

Make sure you stay for the end credits. :evil6:

[Russ_Boston]

That's way cool TH. When I go see it I'll picture you in those places. Good to have a connection.

[Julie]

xxx

[ladydoc]

Parts of North Country and Indiana Jones last film were filmed around here. The restaurants were asked to stay open on sundays to feed the movie folks. That's right. Restaurants are closed here on Sunday..one of the big tourist days. And there are not many restaurants to begin with. Well, ones that we would eat in. Lard as a main ingredient is not my favorite. SO,one more BIG thumbs up for TV...all those lovely places to go and variety and easy to get to and nice people there...I am SO READY

The were always filming movies right across the street from my office window. The old court house there looks like an east coast building. It was always funny to see them bringing out artificial trees to hide the palm trees. I was able to watch lots of scenes being filmed and OMG..they did things over and over and over. They once had this group of people running up the court stairs maybe 20 times. The bad part was that those of us working in the building had to park pretty far away. The good part was getting to watch the filming and seeing the craft trucks feeding the homeless with the leftover food when the days filming was done.

[Taltarzac725]

I liked Super 8 a lot even if it was a bit predictable and slow to develop in the action scenes.

On that note, the movie seemed like something quite old fashioned in many ways-- sort of like film comfort food.

Good to hear about all of the personal connections to this movie from Talk of the Villagers.

[BlueHeronFan]

Saw Super 8 today. Great rain day for a movie. Had a blast, enjoyed it, and had no idea where it was going until it DID!!

Agree, do not leave right away at the end. There is more to the end credits than we thought. Kinda wraps up the movie.

Both my wife and I were wondering if they actually burned part of Weirton to film this. Looked like a neighborhood burning to us.

[Irish Rover]

I recognized the mill but couldn't really identify most of the other scenes. I worked in the mill one summer (sheet mill) and lived across the river in Steubenville. It was nice to see the valley get some Hollywood bucks.:thumbup:

[Talk Host]

Both my wife and I were wondering if they actually burned part of Weirton to film this. Looked like a neighborhood burning to us.

It is my understanding that they actually purchased a couple of houses and burned them. It sure did look like those houses were on fire, didn't it?

I do know that one house was purchased in order to crash a tank into it.

Remember that scene where there were six cops sitting around a dining room table? We'll 4 of them were local guys. The crew went around and asked locals to try on the uniforms to see it they fit. If they did, they got the part in the move.

[damiano124]

I have not yet watched the movie. I don't even know what it is about.