Disney+ To Shoot Halloween-Themed Film In Dedham In August

DEDHAM, MA - Dedham will become the scene of a Halloween-themed Disney+ mystery movie after receiving unanimous approval at a Thursday night's Select Board meeting.

Kyle "Snappy" Oliver, the location manager for the California-based company, said the team is planning to film "a fun, kid-oriented, spooky" Halloween movie in two Dedham neighborhoods in August.

"The theme for our movie is basically that these young kids love ghosts and witches and things like that - they live for Halloween," he explained. "This is their time of year."

One location would be the Marion Street neighborhood, where the team hopes to shoot trick or treating scenes.

"We love the neighborhood," he said. "And we would love to dress it like Halloween in the middle of summertime and pretend that it's our town."

The second proposed filming area would be at the neighborhood intersecting High and Pearl streets. A tall red-bricked house would be the setting for the "magical costume shop." He proposed that window boxes be added to make it look more like a retail store in addition to traditional Halloween decorations for the neighboring houses.

"Something gets released into the town," Oliver foreshadowed. "Mayhem ensues."

Monsters pursue the children as they try to "put the magic back into the bottle, so to speak" by searching the neighborhood as they travel to the magic shop so they can put everything right."

"Spoiler alert," interjected Select Board member Dennis Teehan, his arms outstretched, as board members chuckled.

Oliver estimated that it would take about four days to transform the neighborhood, including Norfolk Superior Court, into a scary setting. The company would need "one solid day of daytime filming" from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., which would require Pearl Street to be closed to traffic. Intermittent traffic control would be instituted on High and Norfolk streets to prevent backups. There would also be two nights of late-night shooting there until up to 3 a.m.

For the Marion Street location, Oliver anticipated three days of decorating the street before filming morning and afternoon shots; then the action would move on to Pearl Street in the evening.

Select Board Chair Jim MacDonald asked where the crew and equipment would be located. Oliver said he hoped to use the back parking lot of the Registry of Deeds for catering tents. Crews and equipment would be stationed at the nearby VFW post and American Legion halls, according to Matt Melia , the assistant location manager for the production.

Oliver commented on the architecture of the "amazing, fantastic looking buildings" around Dedham Square, particularly the library.

MacDonald explained that residents would have to be notified and that contracts should be negotiated beforehand.

"I think that your plan is reasonable," he added, noting that this is one of the best plans he has seen during his 30-year tenure on the board. "You know what you have to do."

"The main thing is people like filming, or they hate filming," MacDonald noted because of the increased activity, noise and disruption in a residential neighborhood. Oliver replied that he had already given neighbors preliminary notification of his plans. So far, there has been "positive response and excitement."

MacDonald also stressed that production crews are now emerging from the strains of the pandemic because a lack of filming opportunities prevented workers from receiving benefits.

Oliver pointed out that there may be other potential projects coming to Dedham down the road.

"There's a lot of productions that want to come here," he said.

Dedham is no stranger to film crews. The town was featured in the HBO series "Julia" last year.

Select Board member Dimitria Sullivan proposed that the company do a screening at the Dedham Community Theatre. Oliver said he would "start that dialogue" with Disney while he is in town.