Business & Tech

More Growns Ups 2 Expected To Be Filmed In Swampscott

Grown Ups 2 movie representatives are talking to Swampscott about shooting an additional 13 days in town in the wake of the movie producer's announcement about scrapping plans to film at Christopher Piper Field in Marblehead.

 

Swampscott and movie representatives are talking about Swampscott's  as the setting for additional scenes in the movie Grown Ups 2, according to town officials.

That would be an additional 13 days of filming; on top of the 15-19 days of shooting already announced for Swampscott.

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Assistant Town Administrator Dave Castellarin says details have to be ironed out in an agreement that would bring a Hollywood set to the practice football field and nearby parking lot at Phillips Park.

Movie producers want to start building the set as soon as possible but realistically the soonest any set construction could start would be is Wednesday, he said.

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Swampscott's town administrator, Thomas Younger, said no deal has been inked.

"No decision has been reached," Younger said. "We are reviewing the site."

The town would be compensated if agreement is reached on the Swampscott location.

The compensation would top the amount that was to be paid to Marblehead for using Christopher Piper Field, the assistant town administrator said.

The prospect of more Grown Ups 2 filming in town has local officials excited, from the chairman of the Board of Selectmen to the chief of police.

Selectmen's Chairman Rich Malagrifa said there is much to like about the additional face time for Grown Ups 2 in Swampscott.

It will boost excitement and revenues, he said.

"Any time we can attract good attention to Swampscott that's a good thing," he said.

The police chief will be meeting with movie representatives to talk about filming as it applies to any public safety related items. 

"I think it's exciting and good for the town," Chief Ron Madigan said.

The developments in Swampscott follow word on Thursday from the movie's producer, Barry Bernardi, who announced plans to "gracefully withdraw" Columbia Pictures' offer to build a set on Marblehead's Christopher Piper Field for $125,000.

Prior to that announcement, Marblehead residents said they didn't think Columbia Pictures' offer of $125,000 to shoot at Piper Field was worth the memories that local athletes and their families would forfeit by missing out on a season's worth of home games.

And they didn't want to see the field, already in dire need of repairs, dug up and restored unless it meant that the money would be used as "seed money" toward the installation of a $2 million artificial turf field.

Already a good portion of the Adam Sandler sequel is slated for shooting in Swampscott including planned scenes at Swampscott Middle School and the Swampscott Train Station.

Together with scenes in Marblehead and other North Shore locations the setting will be a fictional New England town which may go by the name of Stanton.

The movie is a sequel to Grown Ups, about the reunion of childhood friends. Stars include Sandler, David Spade, Taylor Lautner, Salma Hayek, Chris Rock, Kevin James, Maya Rudolph and Rob Schneider, according to IMDb.

The Piper Field set would have included tennis courts and an in-ground swimming pool.

"We’re not here to hurt anybody's feelings. We don’t want to step on any toes,  we don’t want to assume anything," Bernardi said at a Marblehead meeting last week. "We are going to be here for three months, we’re going to have hundreds of people here and we're going to spend millions of dollars in your community. We just want to do it in a way that leaves everyone feeling like they were included in the process."


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