wfn.org | N.J. church is movie set

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"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS" by SUSAN PEEK on Aug. 11, 1991 at 13:58 Eastern,
about FULL TEXT RELEASES FROM UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE (3297 notes).

Note 3295 by UMNS on Nov. 19, 1996 at 15:42 Eastern (3261 characters).

SEARCH: United Methodist, The Preacher's Wife, Newark
Produced by United Methodist News Service, official news agency of
the United Methodist Church, with offices in Nashville, Tenn., New
York, and Washington.

CONTACT: Linda Bloom                            581(10-31-71B)3295
         New York (212) 870-3803                     Nov. 19, 1996

New Jersey United Methodist Church
setting for 'Preacher's Wife' movie

by United Methodist News Service

     In October 1995, a movie locations scout rang the rear doorbell
at Trinity United Methodist Church in Newark, N.J., and asked to
have a look inside.
     The scout liked what she saw: three spacious floors embellished
with turn-of-the-century elegance and sanctuary windows which
matched windows of a church in Yonkers, N.Y., where exterior scenes
would be shot for a movie called "The Preacher's Wife."
     Church members, according to the Rev. Sherrie Boyens Dobbs,
liked the deal they got: $45,000 in rental fees, in addition to
various building repairs and improvements. The sweetener was the
chance to rub shoulders with actors like Whitney Houston, Denzel
Washington, Courtney Vance and Gregory Hines.
     Directed by Penny Marshall, the movie -- opening Dec. 13 -- is
a remake of the 1947 film, "The Bishop's Wife." Houston stars as the
gospel-singing wife, Vance is her minister husband and Washington
plays the angel sent to help them.
     Shooting at the Trinity set began March 11 and ended April 3,
1996, the day before Maundy Thursday. Olden Parks, president of
Trinity's board of trustees, served as the church's representative
during the preparation, filming and restoration phases.
     People from 130 different congregations were hired as extras.
Among them were 28 Trinity members, including ushers Beaufort Bryant
and Edward Ketchens, who play ushers in the movie.
     Dobbs said Trinity would not have been able to participate in
"The Preacher's Wife" without cooperation from the neighborhood
Catholic church, which agreed to temporarily house Trinity's day
care center and provide space for the movie crew, and another
church, Deliverance Temple, which allocated space for the extras and
other actors.
     "We all came together in an amazing kind of way," she
explained, adding that church members waiting for their scenes as
extras got to know each other by singing together, having Bible
study or just playing cards.
     "On Sundays, they (the movie crew) always stopped in time to
get stuff ready for our Sunday service," Dobbs said. Secondary
lighting was needed on those mornings because scaffolding had been
erected over outside windows to darken the church's interior for
filming.
     A "high point" of the filming -- from the church extras' point
of view -- was one evening in rehearsal for the Christmas scene,
according to Dobbs, when just about everyone was on the set.
     Marshall called "cut" as Houston lipsynched a song to
prerecorded music. But Houston and the "congregation" didn't want to
stop. Singer Lionel Ritchie, who was at the piano, and the band
began to play.
     "She (Houston) continued to sing and the choir came in and that
lasted for a good long time," Dobbs recalled. "We just really had
church."
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