| Posted by mondave

Murder and Foul Play Take the Stage in a New Film Being Shot in Lake Placid

In 1963, a group of divers swimming below the cliffs of Pulpit Rock discovered the almost perfectly preserved body of a woman thought to have disappeared nearly 30 years earlier. The woman in question was Mabel Douglass, the first dean and founder of the New Jersey College for Women (part of Rutgers). An illness in 1932 forced her to retire prematurely after only serving as dean for fourteen years. After retirement, she spent a lot of time at her camp in Lake Placid. Douglass went rowing on September 21st, 1933 and disappeared. Police searched the surrounding mountains and scoured the lake but found nothing save for her capsized boat.

Although initially determined an accident, many questioned whether or not foul play might have been involved. It was thought to be strange that her body, completely intact, resurfaced three decades after her presumed death. All of the details surrounding the case seemed very unusual, especially the fact that it was deemed an accident. Of the skeptics, George Christian Ortloff wrote a short nonfiction book, A Lady in the Lake: The True Account of Death and Discovery in Lake Placid, on the case and later Bernard F. Connor wrote the novel Dancehall, which is currently being adapted to film.

The film began shooting a few scenes this past winter in Lake Placid, and was set to continue this summer, but after casting issues, including an inability to sign Josh Hartnett, the film was delayed. Currently on board are Stephen Lang of the highest grossing movie of all time Avatar, Ellen Burstyn whose best known for her roles in the films The Exorcist, The King of Marvin Gardens, Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore and Requiem for a Dream, and Chris Riggi of television’s “Gossip Girl.”

Dancehall’s plot and timeframe differ slightly from the true events; they’re only inspired by the real life disappearance of Mabel Douglass. The film is an adaptation of the novel, not the nonfiction book. It takes place in 1962, where a young woman disappears and in 1982, when her body resurfaces. Hartnett would have played David Powell, the film’s main character, and Burstyn will be playing Powell’s mother-in-law. Stephen Lang is cast as Special Investigator Brint, who is based on Mark Cross, the investigator of the real case. Little is known about the rest of the cast except that a few young local men have been picked up as extras for some of the winter shots.

The adaptation was written and will be directed by Tennyson Bardwell. Bardwell is the writer-director of 2004′s Dorian Blues, a coming-of-age tale about a small-town misfit who struggles with his sexual orientation, and 2009′s The Skeptic about a tormented man’s search for the meaning of life. The Skeptic starred Tim Daly, Tom Arnold, and Avatar’s Zoe Saldana.

The film should begin shooting in Lake George, Albany, and Lake Placid as soon as the casting issues are resolved. Producer Ed Graham expects the shooting of Dancehall in these areas to bring in business at an otherwise dead time of year, as a crew of upwards of 60 people will be in town. Once production begins, Dancehall can be expected in theaters sometime in late 2011.

To read an interview with the novel’s author, Bernard F. Conners, click here.

And to read our review of the novel, Dancehall, click here.

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