Frances McDormand Remembers Gloucester
Back in 2014, Gloucester experienced a cinematic encampment when the film crew of Olive Kitteridge, led by Frances McDormand, spent several months working on Cape Ann. The production went on to win Emmys, and after the crew broke camp, Passports was restored as a restaurant. McDormand has since had an Oscar win with Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, and is now in the midst of releasing Nomadland, with a lot of early buzz. Even though busy with her acting and producing projects, Ms. McDormand found time to send COSMOS a note with fond memories of her time in Gloucester...
From Frances McDormand, January 2021
I love working on location! It is one of the best things about my job. I like to say, “Become an actor and see the world!” I especially enjoyed working and living in Gloucester, MA while we filmed Olive Kitteridge. I had the most perfect oceanfront cottage and also stayed for a brief time at The Inn at Castle Hill in Ipswich, where Bill Murray and I sat by the fire drinking scotch and reading poetry and arguing. I collected the gorgeously nostalgic Folly Cove block print linen and walked the spooky trails of Dogtown.
We were fed in so many ways by the community and the environs, but we were specifically fed by Nico and Amelia of Short & Main. We first met them when they had the pop-up place on the wharf. We crowded in whenever we could, and it became our company canteen. It was late summer and the sounds, smells and tastes of that sweet place lingered into fall and drew us all to their new digs on Main Street downtown. I remember running my hands over the countertop with its embedded oyster shells for decoration and being told the oyster shells were from their wedding feast.
One night, I think it had begun to snow, and we were all there celebrating the last week of our filming when the power went out. There was only a moment of hushed surprise and then the riotous joy of an even better evening ahead! Our hosts accommodated us with what was available, and we toasted them into the night.
How lucky your town is to have young people who commit to feeding their town. That is what keeps the best of a town alive and well and ready for celebration.”
Credit: Emily Foley, McDormand production crew and COSMOS subscriber.
