The heavy snow that fell on Henderson over the weekend is a bonus for a movie which will partly be filmed downtown on Thursday and Friday.
“We love it,” said director Sam Irvin, who along with cinematographer Christopher Lee Herod, stopped in to the Henderson Tourist Commission Wednesday morning.
Irvin said the movie that will be filmed here and in Owensboro is the 11th Christmas film that he’s directed. He has also directed thriller and horror movies, and even an Elvira movie.
Herod said there is a main cast of 15 and a crew of 20 who will be involved in Henderson. He also said there were 3,500 submissions from people around the area looking to be extras in the movie.
After filming here Thursday and Friday, the cast and crew will return to Henderson for one more day of filming on Feb. 8, Irvin said.
Irvin, who is based in Los Angeles, also said a title has been finalized: “Happy Holly Day.”
And he gave a bit more information about the movie’s plot. A girl named Holly Day loves Christmas, and her neighbor, Karol, “not so much.”
Tension builds between the pair because one lawn is filled with Christmas decorations, and the other is not. Added tension occurs, according to Irvin, when Karol learns that her son has an interest in Holly Day and she’s “a little horrified” by that.
Irvin said he has directed some movies that went to Hallmark and a couple of Lifetime films.
“This movie is in that world,” he said.
Irvin didn’t know release information for “Happy Holly Day.”
The film is being produced by Louisville-based Goldenrod Television and Film. Henderson Tourist Commission Executive Director Abby Dixon said that Goldenrod is reaching out to schedule the extras for the filming.
In a previous article, Dixon said that she hopes that this film is a chance for the Henderson community to get its foot in the door for more film productions in the future. She added that hopefully the company’s cast and crew will be impressed with local hospitality and “when they have a new film on the horizon, they’ll think about us.”
Dixon said Goldenrod represented the community and others in the West Kentucky Film Commission in November at the American Film Market in Los Angeles. There, she said, Goldenrod had scores of appointments with producers.
Dixon said the local production also is a result of a recent push to get more films made in Kentucky. The Kentucky Film Office became operational on July 1
