Saratoga parish a site for movie

Alex Chisholm will bring a cast and crew to St. Peter's during the last week of August to film "Earthen Vessels," based on his novel of the same name. The story reunites family members for a Baptism, and Mr. Chisholm asked Rev. Robert LeFevre, St. Peter's pastor, if his church would be available.

"He was one of our first location meetings," Mr. Chisholm said. "To tell the story, you need to have a church, and he was very generous and listened to the story."

Prep for film

Through MIT, he met Carlos Cantu, a recent graduate and aspiring director. Mr. Cantu is co-founder of Can-Do-Home Productions, which promotes cross-media storytelling. The two men discussed bringing "Earthen Vessels" to the screen and internet.

They started working on the screenplay for "Earthen Vessels" in January and now are writing the third draft. The cast includes 11 principal speaking roles, 20 featured roles and 50 to 100 extras. About 140 actors and actresses auditioned for roles in June at Colonie Center, and cast members have come from New York City, Boston and the New York State Theatre Institute.

Family story

It has been three years since James, one of four Naehring siblings, committed suicide, and this weekend "calls to mind haunting and powerful memories and reflections of how challenging it is to acknowledge one's spirituality, and recognize the uncertainty and fragility of the human condition in a technologically advanced and accelerated world," Mr. Chisholm and Mr. Cantu write in their screenplay treatment.

BY contrast, the ritual of Baptism represents the faith and love of God, and the family's commitment to raise the newly baptized infant in the Church.

Catholic milieu

"I think you can tell the people are Catholic, and we want people to invest in these characters," he said. "The film asks questions without condemning the role of God and spirituality."

Not only is "Earthen Vessels" a book and soon-to-be-movie, it also will be available on the internet, which is Can-Do-Home Productions' cross-media goal.

"No one's really using the internet as a means for interactive storytelling," Mr. Cantu said.

Location shooting

Mr. Chisholm and Mr. Cantu hope to have a rough cut of "Earthen Vessels" finished by the end of October, then submit the film to festivals while completing the internet work between October and December.

Being back in Saratoga Springs means a lot to Mr. Chisholm, and using St. Peter's and other Spa locations makes filmmaking even more satisfying.

"People just like Saratoga, from Robert Redford to Carly Simon," he said. Shooting a film is "a lot of hard work; but when we get in a groove, it's really cool."

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