News From Terre Haute, Indiana

Local & Bistate

September 14, 2011

MARK BENNETT: Just another Terre Haute celebrity sighting

TERRE HAUTE — At some point, this stuff becomes routine.

First Hautean: “Isn’t that Will Ferrell shooting a commercial over there by the hotel?”

Second Hautean: “Yeah, I ran into De Niro at Square Donuts yesterday. You think the Colts will win a game without Peyton?”


Last month, actors Jesse Ventura and Tom Sizemore came to town to act in the Terre Haute-based movie “The Drunk.” Tuesday morning, film funnyman Will Ferrell showed up with a crew at various locations downtown, including the Crossroads of America at Seventh Street and Wabash Avenue, apparently to film a comedy sketch about Old Milwaukee beer.

Ferrell held an Old Milwaukee beer can as he spoke and the cameras rolled, and read from cue cards where the word “Milwaukee” was clearly visible, according to people who encountered the brief spectacle.

The film crew used multiple locations — besides the Crossroads of America marker next to the Max Ehrmann statue and plaza, in front of the Hilton Garden Inn-Terre Haute House, and near the railroad tracks at 10th and Wabash. For one take, Ferrell spoke into the cameras while walking through the Seventh and Wabash intersection, crossing from the Hilton toward Old National Bank.

Kids in a passing school bus spotted Ferrell and snapped cellphone photos. People working in the bank building, Boo’s Crossroads Cafe and the Vigo County School Corp. did the same.

“How often does Will Ferrell come to Terre Haute?” Vickie Wallace, executive assistant at ONB, asked rhetorically as she described the reaction of those who watched his short filming session. That’s a good question, but Ferrell breezed in and out of town so quickly, apparently unannounced, that no one heard whether he’d been here before.

An even more puzzling question is, why Terre Haute?

Sure, we’ve got a long history of beermaking, including the long run of Champagne Velvet and the once-massive Terre Haute Brewing Co. That all ended when the brewery closed in 1958, until a beer-making revival in the 21st century initiated by entrepreneur Mike Rowe and followed by Ted Miller and the Brugge team at the reopened plant.

Still, connecting that history to a Will Ferrell commercial for Old Milwaukee — now a Pabst Brewing Co. product — is a big stretch.

Maybe Will’s a fan of Larry Bird, “Desiderata,” Eugene Debs or Clabber Girl Baking Powder. Maybe his crew is stopping at scenic points along the Old National Road, U.S. 40. (Scratch that. With the state’s new road sign system, they’d probably end up at the airport.) Maybe Will wanted to rekindle some of Steve Martin’s Terre Haute magic, and show how Terre Haute, circa 2011, is light years beyond Steve’s 1978 “Nowhere USA” label.

Maybe they pulled off I-70 for gas and breakfast and wound up downtown. (After all, Ferrell and his crew eventually ate at Cracker Barrel shortly after leaving Wabash Avenue.)

As of Tuesday evening, the reason they picked Terre Haute remained unclear. Voicemail messages left with Ferrell’s publicist and the Pabst Brewing marketing staff were not immediately returned.

While the “why” is, for now, a mystery, the “what” may not be so murky.

A 2010 story in Businessweek explained how the Pabst new ownership was aggressively marketing its brands. Pabst Blue Ribbon — believe it or not — has become a hipster beverage, popular in Los Angeles and New York’s trendy places. (That’s a head-scratcher. Anybody remember that picture of Larry Bird in his Indiana State Sycamore days wearing a PBR ballcap?) That same Businessweek piece also revealed that the comedy website Funny Or Die, created by Ferrell’s production company, would produce sketches incorporating Pabst products.

That possibility might at least explain what they were up to.

In the meantime, we all can speculate where — and in what light — our city will show up in Ferrell’s comedic portfolio. Everybody who thinks he’s funny (and I do) has a favorite Will Ferrell movie.

“My kids love ‘Kicking and Screaming’ and ‘The Other Guys,’ ” Wallace said. “He’s just hilarious.”

Julia Madison, a receptionist at the Vigo County School Corp., who saw Ferrell’s crew pull up in two vehicles just before 8 a.m., likes “Elf.”

Jon Campbell, the cook at Crossroads Cafe who briefly left the grill to see if it really was Will Ferrell outside, said, “I love Ron Burgundy — ‘Anchorman,’ ” referring to Ferrell’s character in that TV news spoof. “ ‘Talladega Nights’ is a classic, too.”

Sarah Brinkman, Campbell’s co-worker, likes “Stranger Than Fiction.” That phrase sums up Terre Haute’s situation Tuesday. … Will Ferrell came to town, filmed some sort of Old Milwaukee beer sketch while wearing tube socks and sandals, and then took off in a van, stopping first to eat biscuits and gravy and grits at Cracker Barrel.

For Terre Haute, to quote “Anchorman,” this was “kind of a big deal.”



Mark Bennett can be reached at (812) 231-4377 or mark.bennett@tribstar.com.

Text Only | Photo Reprints
Local & Bistate
Latest News
Community Calendar
Loading…
Events by eviesays.com
TribStar.com Poll
AP Video
Raw: Massive Funnel Clouds in Oklahoma Raw: Widespread Destruction in Moore, Okla. Raw: Rescue Workers Search Oklahoma School Raw: Tornado on the Ground in Oklahoma Raw: Aftermath of Massive Tornado in Oklahoma Raw: Aerials Show Path of Oklahoma Destruction Active Search for Utah Missing Mom Ends Huge Tornado Kills Dozens Near Oklahoma City Voters Could Elect LA's First Female Mayor Raw: Rescuers Pull Tornado Survivors to Safety Raw: Japan's WWII Atrocities Under Fire in Seoul Raw: Aussie Zoo Shows Off White Rhino Calf Oklahoma Gov: 'Hearts Are Broken' After Tornado Obama Pledges Urgent Aid for Tornado Victims Raw: Walking in a Flattened Okla. Neighborhood Horse Saved From Slaughter, Goes on to Win Big Raw: Tearful Reunion After Okla. Tornado MLB Hoping for Large Replay Expansion in 2014 OKC Hospital Describes Treating Tornado Wounded America's Cup Officials Say Race Will Continue
NDN Video
VIRAL: Baby makes epic soccer goal Arias Tells Jury What She'd Do if She Gets Life The all-new Xbox One RAW: Massive tornado strikes Oklahoma VIDEO: Teacher reunites mother and son after tornado levels elementary school in Oklahoma City Okla. tornado survivor finds dog buried alive under rubble Jennifer Lawrence Gets Naked and Painted Blue as X-Men's Mystique Pickler's Dance Moves Cause A Stir Obama to tornado survivors: The country stands beside you Reporter Cries Over Devastation Sneak Peek: 'Modern Family' Says Good Bye Trailer: 'The Last Stand' Available on Blu-ray Disc, DVD, Digital Download IWitness Look at Moore, OK Tornado RAW: Moore, OK tornado touches down near school Robert Pattinson Moves Out RAW: Russian dash cam catches car 20 feet in the air Oklahoma tornado survivor: "Everything is gone" Khloe Lashes Out at Kim Kardashian's Critics Couple Argues As Woman's Lover Crawls Out Window RAW: Brad Paisley Forgets Lyrics To His Own Song
Parade
Magazine

Click HERE to read all your Parade favorites including Hollywood Wire, Celebrity interviews and photo galleries, Food recipes and cooking tips, Games and lots more.
  • -

     

    March 12, 2010

activity
Real Estate News