There are a couple of recent blog entries from Saratoga blogs that have to do with the Batcheller Mansion Inn. One of them refers to that beautiful house (now of course a Bed & Breakfast) in a tangential way - but that tangent was very interesting and alerted me to something I wasn't aware of. Did you know that there was a yet to be released movie filmed there in the past few years? The Skeptic, starring Tim Daly, Tom Arnold, and Zoe Saldana, was according to I-Saratoga, filmed three years ago but has yet to be released. I-Saratoga made an entry about who he described as the "Spa City’s very own professional con" Dave Silipigno and he mentioned how he produced a movie using outside shots of the mansion.
Horatio Alger (the pen name for the I-Saratoga blogger) and the many commenters on his blog had insightful commentaries and negative accusations about Mr. Silipigno in that entry which were quite interesting, but too serious, and quite frankly, depressing, for me to bring up on this blog. I appreciate both I-Saratoga and the (Dis)Utopia blog's insider (and anonymous) commentaries on the local political and business scene, but I get enough seriousness at my full time job and this blog is supposed to be a fun hobby for me. Therefore I only get serious when something pisses me off about the city that I love and call home. Therefore let me comment on the fun and tangential portion of I-Saratoga's post - namely that there was a movie filmed using outside shots (and inside?) of the Batcheller Mansion Inn. Cool.
"The Skeptic" appears to be a run of the mill horror/thriller flick which, as evidenced in the two and a half minute trailer (linked below in the embedded Youtube link), uses shots of the Batcheller Mansion as the setting for the haunted house. Well I love anything that makes Saratoga that much more interesting of a place to live, so this certainly counts. Like I said the film doesn't look great (which explains its three years in limbo) but in addition to the aforementioned actors, the cast also includes the late Robert Prosky in his last film role. He just died in December - you may remember him from his role as Sergeant Stanley Jablonski in the great TV series "Hill Street Blues".
On a related note, about a year ago, I made an entry about the movie "A slight Case of Murder" which was set right here in Saratoga. A commenter wrote in and included a comprehensive list of Saratoga related movies in his comment which I was happy to receive. It's worth checking out.
Shifting gears, but staying with the Batcheller Mansion theme, The T-U's Saratoga Seen blog had a recent entry about a new book about the Batcheller Mansion Inn. The entry gave a brief history of the Inn, discussed the book, and mentioned that the author would be participating in an official opening for the book on Febrary 8th in Crafter's Gallery. I hope to be there.
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