Virginia Madsen Film Shoots Scene in Sierra Madre

Production crews transformed the parking lot into a Maryland grocery store Tuesday morning as they began production on an independent film called Long Time Gone.

The film stars Academy Award nominee Virginia Madsen (Sideways), Golden Globe winner Anthony LaPaglia (Without a Trace), and Zach Gilford of Friday Night Lights fame.

Echoing sentiments expressed by the producers of the NBC web series In Gale We Trust, which , unit publicist Cid Swank said they chose Sierra Madre for that “small town feel” needed for the film.

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Penned by Legally Blonde scribe Karen McCullah, the film follows a family broken apart by divorce. The grief-stricken mother, played by Madsen, is seemingly inconsolable to her two sons.

But when “carefree Bette (played by Amanda Crew) enters their lives, her outlook on the world revolutionizes the way each has been viewing this situation,” according to Swank’s press release.

“The underlying message is that broken families doesn’t mean broken people,” Sarah Siegel-Magness, who produced the hit film Precious and is making her directorial debut with this picture, said in the release.

On set, producer Bobbi Sue Luther jumped at the opportunity to express her love of Sierra Madre and environs.

“I go hiking in the mountains above here all the time,” Luther said. “I’m going this weekend actually.”

No release date or distribution deal has yet been announced for the film, which will be shooting for the next 30 days at locations all around Los Angeles.