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Smith Mountain Lake's golden girl, Sarah Elizabeth Timmons, took a simple concept about a family adjusting to life after the death of their Patriarch at a lake and developed it into a feature film titled, Lake Effects. Her production company, Life Outloud Films took on the project, first securing investors and signing big name actors for the film such as Jane Seymour and Ben Savage and Director Mike McKay. The preplanning for the movie took a total of 2 years, but filming began in the Summer of 2011.
Unlike another movie filmed at Smith Mountain Lake in 1991 , What About Bob Starring Bill Murray, the Lake Effects movie proudly shows off everything that makes Smith Mountain Lake unique from its people to its extraordinary locations and its name. For instance, the She-Doos headed by Deedee Bondurant will prowl around the lake on their sea doos in some of the scenes. Timmons also found a movie part for our local radio personality, Tim Enandes, the owner of WSLK 880 AM.
One of the characters in the film is an amphibious motorized Lock Ness Monster like creature named "Smithy". Life Outloud Films held a Lake Monster Contest in September 2010 to enlist the engineering skills of local residents. In the end, Christian Breeden and the Dr. Benny Motorsports Team won the contest and proudly handled the construction of a total of 4 variations of Smithy. They put Smithy on display at the movie premiere at Westlake Cinema in October 2011.
Some Locations at Smith Mountain Lake that appear in the movie included downtown Bedford (a neighboring town), Fallon’s Restaurant in Moneta (Now Poppy's after a change in ownership in Summer 2011) and Benjamin’s at the Pointe in Huddleston (an upper class dining location that overlooks the lake. Sarah's Timmon's parents home serves as the location for the Matriarch of the film's home, which is played by Jane Seymour.
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The Smith Mountain Lake Residents delightfully wore their best clothes to a red carpet premiere at the Westlake Cinema, our local movie theater. On display was Smithy and the a Rolls Royce. Local wineries and other lake merchants entertained the movie guests.Timmons hopes to sell the movie to distributors and possibly have it played on a cable movie channel like Lifetime.
What is next for Sarah Timmons and Laugh Outloud Films? Well one of the big investors for Lake Effects, David Baldacci, is working with Timmons to produce another film making his best selling novel, Wish You Well into a movie. David Baldacci grew up in Richmond, but spends a lot of his time writing writing novels from his Smith Mountain Lake House. The book is about two siblings who grew up in New York City that relocate to Southwestern Virginia after a family tragedy during the 1940s. Maybe this Smith Mountain Lake team will bring more film credits to the Jewel of Virginia!
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