The First State doubled for Hollywood recently as the location for what producer Lisa Black calls “the first feature [film] of note to be filmed in Delaware since ‘Dead Poets [Society].’”
“Death on the Brandywine,” written, directed, and produced by Nick Wilkinson and set in the Brandywine Valley, tells the story of the mysterious murder of an esteemed senator at a fundraiser given by his son. While authorities rush to declare the death a suicide, his daughter and a forensic psychologist suspect something very different. The cast includes notables such as Kate Burton of the television shows “Scandal” and “Grey’s Anatomy,” Tuc Watkins of “Desperate Housewives,” and Rena Sofer of “24” and “General Hospital.”
“I’ve lived in Greenville for the last 20-odd years and, at times, have been involved with helping local politicians raise money and going to events and all the rest of it, and I wanted to satirize what I’ll call the political classes—the people who live perpetually in a money-raising cycle. It’s more important that they raise money than [actually do] anything to serve the people that they’ve been elected to serve. And that became a part of my inspiration for the story,” Wilkinson says.
Much of the film was shot at the Brantwyn Estate on the grounds of the DuPont Country Club. “It’s a gorgeous, great property. It became another character in the film. It’s as integral to the film as any of the characters, really. A lot of the rooms were used pretty much as they are,” Wilkinson says. Other filming locations included Brew HaHa! coffee shop in Greenville, Mount Salem Cemetery in Wilmington, and The Copper Dram in Greenville.
The 20-day shoot took place during all four weeks of February. “We employed over 65 people. And with just the local businesses alone, I would say hundreds of thousands of dollars were spent in the area, which is really important,” says Black, former co-chair of the state’s Motion Picture and Television Development Commission and current co-chair of the Producers Guild of America’s mid-Atlantic region. “And when you’re talking about job creation, when you’re talking about economic development, we’re talking about training. We trained some people [who] came from other industries…and now they can go on and do other things within the film industry.”
You may even see some friends and neighbors. “Every single background actor is a Delawarean, except maybe five. …As extras, we really brought the community into the film,” says Black, who is also executive vice president of SNL Film, which Wilkinson founded. SNL Film produced the movie in association with Black’s Garnet Girl, LLC. Bill Shahan of Wilmington’s DreaMedia Productions served as editor.
“The intention is to go to theatrical and then eventually to streamers. This is not a student film. This is a real feature film that’s going to be seen by the world, and that puts Delaware on the map for a whole other reason than just politically,” Black says.
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