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Candlelite shines in Hollywood spotlight

By Paul Leighton
Staff writer
Published: September 5, 2008

MIDDLETON — Lori Deacon has worked at the Candlelite Motor Inn for 31 years and does not appreciate the Route 114 motel's notorious reputation as a trouble spot.

Which is why she was happy with yesterday's kidnapping at the Candlelite.

Before you blame Deacon for faulty logic, it's important to point out that the crime was not real. It was a figment of Hollywood's imagination.

A movie company spent the day at the Candlelite filming a kidnapping scene for the upcoming independent movie "Don McKay" starring Oscar nominee Thomas Haden Church. Church plays a janitor who returns to his hometown after 25 years and runs into trouble, including a kidnapping and murder.

The Candlelite might seem like a perfect place for such goings-on. The motel has been the scene of numerous incidents over the years, including the arrest of one customer on child rape charges in 2004 and the robbery of a Chinese food delivery person with a stun gun last year.

But Deacon, who has worked at the motel since her father, Judson, bought the place 31 years ago, said the Candlelite shouldn't be blamed for problems caused by others. She's hoping the publicity surrounding "Don McKay" will focus attention on the positive side of the 65-room motel, a two-story, brown clapboard building on Route 114 near the North Andover line.

"It's exciting," she said. "The Candlelite in the past has gotten some extremely bad publicity, which has nothing to do with us. I want people to see we're not whatever people think we are."

"Don McKay" has been filming in North Andover for the last three weeks and is one of an increasing number of movies being shot in Massachusetts since the state began offering tax incentives for movie makers.

Yesterday's shooting included about 30 crew members and actors Church, Melissa Leo, Keith David and M. Emmet Walsh. The movie also stars Elisabeth Shue, although she was not on scene at the Candelite.

Church, 48, was nominated for an Academy Award as best supporting actor for his role in "Sideways." He has also appeared in "Spider-Man 3" and the TV show "Wings."

As he got ready for the kidnapping scene, the long-haired Church could be seen dressed in a brown uniform with the name "Don" stitched on the front. A production assistant asked members of the media not to bother Church, saying he had grown tired of media attention on the movie's shoots in North Andover.

For this scene, Church rode in the passenger seat of a black SUV as it pulled out of the Candlelite parking lot, trailed by a black Lincoln Continental and a taxi. Middleton and North Andover police stopped traffic on Route 114 to allow the vehicles to pull out onto the road.

As the movie was being filmed in the parking lot, Deacon stayed inside working at the motel's café, the Banana Cabana Café. Not that she's getting blasé about the movie business, but this was the second time this summer a film has been shot at the Candlelite.

In June, a scene for the movie "27 Down" was shot in the Banana Cabana. Deacon played the bartender.

Deacon said she has no idea why the Candlelite has been chosen. She said she and her father have not charged the movie companies a fee for the use of the premises. She figures the publicity will provide the real payoff.

People know about the motel, she said, but many don't know about the Banana Cabana at the back of the building. The café serves breakfast, lunch and dinner and features $1.75 16-ounce draft beer and 25-cent wings.

"We have unbelievable food. People come here and get addicted," she said. "With all the negative things that have been said, this will give people a better idea about us."

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