LAKE PLACID – iPossessed appears to be creating quite the buzz in this small central Florida town.
On Wednesday morning two elderly townsfolk decided to see for themselves what was causing all the hubbub at the remote farmhouse that serves as both the set and the housing for Carl Rimi’s movie.
Shortly after 9 a.m. the couple showed up at the property and, finding the front door unlocked, entered and began wandering through the house.
“What rational person would just walk in. Movie set or not, you know people live here,” Rimi said. “And when you see people sleeping on the bed, wouldn’t you be like, OK, maybe this isn’t the right time?”
With nearly all of the shooting occurring during the overnight hours, the visitors encountered several crew remembers sleeping on couches and inflatable mattresses in the family room and kitchen.
Though they were kind enough not to wake the slumbering, they did take the opportunity to read through the script, which was sitting on the kitchen counter.
Ultimately the couple elected to go back outside to wander the property. On the patio they encountered Eli Godsey, the Digital Imaging Technician on the project.
”I think I startled them just as much as they did me,” Godsey said. “It was kind of awkward.”
Godsey spoke with the couple for about 20 minutes, answering their questions about the movie.
The couple told him they learned of iPossessed and the set location by reading an article profiling the movie in the Highlands New-Sun – the local newspaper.
When Rimi read the article, he wasn’t pleased to see it mention the location in such detail.
“My mind justified it like, who’s going to read a newspaper?” Rimi said. “But here we go.”
Rimi and crew are about halfway through shooting of iPossessed, a movie he wrote, stars in, co-directs and co-produces.
During the first days of shooting – which occurred outdoors and during daylight – several people drove by the remote property in cars or ATVs, trying catch a glimpse of the action.
On Wednesday afternoon a small plane continuously circled above the property at low altitude, perhaps trying to steal a look.
“Even on a big time production, no one wants people just coming in that they don’t know,” Rimi said. “I don’t understand that. Maybe that’s what they do in small towns.”
Depending on the amount of actors needed for the scene they are shooting, on any given night a dozen or more people sleep at the farm house. Most don’t find their comfort of their beds until dawn.
Several said they initially wondered about the prudence of leaving a door unlocked.
“I was like, Oh, we’re out in the middle of nowhere. It’s not like somebody’s going to come out and walk into the house,” Godsey said. “Now we see why we should lock the doors.”
Rimi and the crew will now begin checking the doors before heading to bed. iPossessed is scheduled to complete shooting on May 26. A release date has yet to be announced.
