Arts & Entertainment

Fans Follow Grown Ups 2 Stars to Swampscott

One of the movie's stars, Peter Dante, played soccer with Swampscott High girls' team players on Monday at Phillips Park.

 

Crowds gathered at Bondelevitch Way by on Monday, some of them from afar, hoping to meet cast members from .

Four longtime friends from Frankfort, Indiana, were among the fans. 

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Three of them drove 17 hours to the North Shore after they heard from a fourth friend, 22-year-old Caitlyn Bartley — who is working as a nanny in Marblehead — about Grown Ups 2 filming in town.

They are Adam Sandler movie fans, especially Natalie Burton. The friends watched the Sandler movie Big Daddy the night before to get psyched up for Monday's star watching.

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Natalie, a mom with two young children, can quote whole swatches from Sandler movies including her favorite, Billy Madison.

They took the trip on a whim, a girl-pal venture, four days worth, and they were having a blast.

They come from corn country in the middle of Indiana, and their accents sounded a bit southern.

Their crew also included Caitlyn's sister, Hannah Bartley, 15, and Heather Cauley, 26, a high school home economics teacher.

Nearby, a large group of fans from Chelmsford staked out spots in their lawn chairs.

At least four of them left Chelmsford at 5:30 am and came with their packed lunches of turkey sandwiches, hoping to meet Alexander Ludwig and other stars.

Four girls, all 17, got to meet Adam Sandler, said Katie Higgins. The Chelmsford contingent also included Erin Lucey, Emily Krauch and Samantha Benoit.

The stars enter and leave the set at Phillips Park at Bondelevitch way, and eat at the catering tent on the tennis courts. The chef was cooking chicken breast, corned beef, and haddock on Monday.

Their acting is reserved for closed set work in the sound stage Columbia Pictures built at the park.

Grown Ups 2 will be at the site through about mid-August, location manager Charlie Harrington said.

Monday was the first day cast members had converged on the sound stage. 

Later in the day some Swampscott students got an unexpected visit from one of the movie cast members — Peter Dante.

He practiced with players on the Swampscott High soccer team who were playing at Phillips Park.


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