I’m sure pretty much everyone has heard about the spree killer in Gaffney, SC who killed 5 people over the past week before being gunned down in Gastonia, NC. Gaffney is a tiny town known for being the birthplace of Andie McDowell and for having a giant peach watertower. The people there are incredibly nice and have that Southern hospitality thing down. It is truly sad that such a tragedy has happened there.
I stayed in Gaffney for about a week in 2005 while working as a PA on the super awful movie Walker Payne (directed by the creator of Home Improvement). I realized the power movies and movie crews have over people who don’t live in LA or NY and have no real experience with how they are made. Batman Begins came out the Friday that I was in town. The mayor’s secretary was an extra on the film and was around when we mentioned that we wanted to see the film but weren’t sure if we would wrap for the day in time to make the showing at the one theater in town. The secretary called the owner of the theater and had him hold the start of the film until we had finished (which was about 1/2 an hour after it was supposed to start.) The fact that people would do this to accomodate some nerdy PAs on an indie film astounded me. It’s strange how fame affects people.
