Old Fashioned: A Love Story for Tuscarawas County

  • By Teri Stein
  • January 20, 2014
  • 953
                        
Summary: Was it worth the wait? Film maker Rik Swartzwelder, a native of New Philadelphia, offered a sneak peek at his newest full length film, Old Fashioned, which was filmed in Tuscarawas County, at the Performing Arts Center in New Philadelphia last weekend. By Teri Stein It was a warm welcome home for Rik Swartzwelder, formerly of New Philadelphia, whose new independent movie, Old Fashioned, was presented in sneak peek viewings at a black tie event Saturday evening Jan. 18 and to a sold out audience the next evening at the Performing Arts Center in New Philadelphia. The multi-talented and gracious Swartzwelder made everyone in Tuscarawas County feel that Old Fashioned was as much our film as it was his. The storyline features a former frat boy (Swartzwelder as Clay Walsh) and a free-spirited woman (Elizabeth Ann Roberts as Amber Hewson) attempt the impossible: an “old-fashioned” courtship in contemporary America. Swartzwelder, a current resident of Burbank, California, who is the writer, producer, lead actor, and director of the full length film which brings together romance, comedy and drama, fulfilled a lifelong dream when he came home to shoot the movie in Tuscarawas County. As a child, Swartzwelder began making 8 millimeter movies while he was still a student at South Elementary in New Philadelphia and first developed his acting skills at The Little Theatre of Tuscarawas County. Many area locations are prominently featured including the Tuscarawas County Courthouse and Welcome to Our City sign in square of New Philadelphia, Tuscora Park, many local businesses and locations in Bolivar and Zoar among others. The filmmaker was overcome with emotion on Saturday evening when he received a tribute from State Representative Al Landis and the Ohio House of Representatives. "We had no money to make this movie. What we had was an idea and a dream and a tender story of what love can be,” said Swartzwelder adding that the movie could not have been made anywhere else and that the generous people of Tuscarawas County saw that the production company had what was needed to make the film. The producers had to work with an incredibly small budget for a film of only $500,000. Of the seemingly impossible task of finishing a movie, Swartzwelder quoted Shel Silverstein, a well-known children’s author, poet and singer/songwriter. “Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me... Anything can happen, child. Anything can be.” “My mother put that in my heart as a child and I believed it,” said Swartzwelder who then presented his award to his mother, Jayne Maxwell-Swartzwelder, whom he thanked for turning over her home on the southside of New Philadelphia to a group of strangers during filming. “This is your night. This is your movie,” Swartzwelder told those in attendance. In a question and answer session after Sunday’s sneak peak, Swartzwelder said that he wrote the first draft of Old Fashioned in 2002. “When the film was made, it was on its 40th draft and it had been workshopped with other actors about a dozen times.” It was also no easy task to trim the original 100 hours of film into the final 2 hour version of the movie. “We hope this film is a great discussion starter. Things don’t have to be how MTV says they are,” Swartzwelder said. Though talks are ongoing with a distributor, it is hoped the movie will be released nationally toward the end of this year. Plans call for two books to be released at the same time as the film, one based on the screenplay and another on dating in America. Local residents were also excited to see that our own, Joe Bonamico, of Trumpet in the Land and The White Savage fame, acts in many scenes in the movie giving Swartzwelder’s character advice. Bonamico plays the role of George, who sells antique furniture to Clay to restore. “Film is much different than stage; in stage all the actors know each other,” said Bonamico. “Tonight is the first time I’ve meet Tyler Hollinger, who plays Brad, because we did not have any scenes together in the movie.” “I’ve been in this business for 30 years,” said Bonamico noting that he has been able to make a living from acting while still residing in Tuscarawas County. “You can find good actors anywhere.” Other area residents, including Attorney Steven Thomakos, former Tuscarawas County Commissioner Jim Seldenright, Kassie Seldenright, Caleb Beans, County Commissioner Chris Abbuhl, CJ Shamp and his son, Caleb, and a Jazz band comprised of Daphne Chek, Jeffrey Furbay, Cheryl Graham, William Graham, and Jeffrey Phillips among others, could be seen in the film or on an extra four minute reel of scenes that were cut in the final editing. The final note in large print on the extra reel read: We Love You Tuscarawas County… Thank You!!! Words like awesome, wonderful and touching were heard from many to describe the film and those in attendance thought it was extremely well made. “I enjoyed every minute of it,” said Becky Goudy of New Philadelphia.


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