Hoping for film projects

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Fredericksburg area's Colonial sites hope to play a role in 'John Adams' and '1776' movies for HBO

Date published: 7/4/2005

By FRANK DELANO

Tom Hanks, please call Paula Raudenbush and Teresa Jackson.

In case you've misplaced their numbers, Tom, Raudenbush's office at Kenmore is 540/373-3381 and Jackson's office at Stratford Hall Plantation is 804/493-1920.

They're big fans of yours, Tom. And they want to hear that you're going to put their grand 18th-century houses in the movies.

Two movies, actually, both coming attractions of Playtone, your very own film production company, and both destined to be HBO miniseries about the American Revolution.

Time is short for "John Adams," the adaptation of historian David McCullough's best-selling biography of the only one of the first five presidents of the United States who was not a Virginian.

Adams, of course, was from Massachusetts. But the honor and cash that Playtone will bestow on his story will fall not on Quincy, Mass., or Boston. It might just fall on Colonial Williamsburg, Richmond and other old Virginia places.

The Virginia Film Office says the producers of "John Adams" have opened a Richmond office. Filming will last six months or more. Would-be crew members can call 804/730-0666 to ask about jobs.

But Playtone is apparently still looking for additional locations.

Raudenbush, director of marketing for George Washington's Fredericksburg Foundation, which owns Kenmore, says a film scout came there three or four weeks ago and took pictures to show Playtone, just in case it needs more boxwood, brick and fancy moldings for a shoot.

"He said he was going to call us back in a couple of weeks, but we haven't heard anything yet. Unfortunately, we're still under restoration, and will be until next year. But you never know," said Raudenbush.

And, last month, the Hanover County Board of Supervisors approved a permit to allow Playtone to build sets in a 95-acre cornfield northeast of Mechanicsville for 10 days and three nights of filming.

Westmoreland County wants a piece of the Hollywood action, too, says Jackson, Stratford Hall's director of development.

The county wasn't called the Athens of America for nothing. George Washington and James Monroe were both born there. And Stratford Hall was the home of the only two brothers to sign the Declaration of Independence.

Date published: 7/4/2005