What have they done with St. Peter’s Episcopal Church ?
And why are Capitol police parked outside?
Passersby may have wondered on Monday. St. Peter’s has been part of the Morristown scene since 1827. Yet the sign outside the Gothic edifice insisted this was St. Edward the Confessor Sacred Heart Church.
And those Capitol police vehicles, and the Washington DC news van, on Maple Avenue?
Alas, this was real fake news.
A crew was preparing for filming of Ways & Means, the pilot for a CBS series starring Patrick Dempsey (a.k.a. neurosurgeon Derek “McDreamy” Shepherd of Grey’s Anatomy) and Amanda Warren (Madam Secretary, NCIS: New Orleans, FBI).
Dempsey plays a Congressman “who has lost faith in politics (and) finds himself working secretly with an idealistic young Congresswoman…from the opposing party to subvert the hopelessly gridlocked system he helped create,” according to Variety.
The cast also includes Troian Bellisario, best known for Pretty Little Liars, reports IMDB.
Originally titled The Whip, Ways & Means is co-written by Republican political consultant Mike Murphy and Ed Redlich, showrunner for SEAL Team, notes the trade publication Deadline.
Scenes will be shot inside and outside the church over the next couple of days, said the Rev. Anne Thatcher, the new rector.
A CBS location scout called her last month, about two weeks after her arrival at St. Peter’s, asking for a tour.
“I met some of the crew and we walked through the spaces. They talked a little bit about the pilot, and then they said all right, we’ll be in touch. I thought, you just never know,” she said.
“Within a couple days they phoned up and said, ‘You’re the pick for this particular scene.’ And it took off from there.”
Fees from the filming will buy cameras for live-streaming worship services, Thatcher said.
The rector was told the production also is shooting in Newark and Trenton.
While she’s not sure how its scout found St. Peter’s, the place has attracted prior attention from the entertainment industry: Actor Matthew Broderick gave Christmas readings when his sister Janet was rector.
Ways & Means will be shooting scenes for a memorial service, Thatcher believes.
So far, the minister and her playful Irish doodle, Laszlo, have not been tapped for any cameos.
“That would have been fun!” Thatcher said.