Hollywood Comes to Lakeview

Students and staff at are seeing firsthand how movies are made as the cast and crew of Family Weekend shoot scenes for the upcoming feature film.

Trailers filled the main parking lot off 11 Mile Road, and the halls in front of the auditorium were used as a makeshift cafeteria with food for the crew and filled with laptops as production staff worked behind the scenes of the movie.

And in the auxiliary cafeteria crews transformed the school's multipurpose room into a detention room where the stars, Kristin Chenoweth and Matthew Modine, filmed scenes Thursday.

Cameras rolled during class time and would take breaks between bells as students would travel to their next class.

"It is an amazing opportunity for the school," Lakeview principal Brent Case said. "It is the kind of opportunity that is probably once in a lifetime."

Lakeview is the latest Macomb County location to be used in the filming of the movie about a "teenager who takes action to try to fix her dysfunctional family life," according to the Macomb Film Office. Crews were filmed at Fraser High School Wednesday, and have also been shooting at a home in Harrison Township.

Crews from Footprint Features, which rented the school facilities, arrived at 6 a.m. Thursday to set up for filming, and will return Saturday and Sunday to shoot additional scenes in the cafeteria, trophy hallway and auxiliary gym at the school.

Lakeview students were cast as extras Thursday and for scenes that will be shot Saturday and Sunday.

In addition to scenes that will be shot at the school, the lead character is being portrayed as a Lakeview student. Additionally, crews are shooting photos of banners and requested school-related clothing items for filming.

"We looked at all the high schools in the neighborhood and people here were really nice and very accommodating," said Adam Saunders, one of the film's co-producers. "The exterior is really perfect for what we were looking for."

A release date has not been set.