Screams may shatter the nighttime silence in an historic Everett neighborhood Friday and early Saturday. Don’t worry, there’s nothing to fear — except, perhaps, a spooky-strange TV show.
“Twin Peaks?” Well, yes and no. But in all likelihood, yes.
Rucker Hill residents had advance notice that a film production company would be in their neighborhood this week. In a recent letter from location scout Niles Compau, they were told to expect street closures. No-parking signs were posted in the area of Kromer Avenue and 33rd Street. On Wednesday, huge semitrailers lined a street near Providence Regional Medical Center Everett’s Pacific Campus.
The center of the action is 708 33rd Street. And yes, that’s the address of the 1930 white Dutch colonial featured in the original “Twin Peaks” TV series and the 1992 movie, “Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me.” In the show and film, it’s the family home of Laura Palmer, the blonde homecoming queen whose murder brings FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper to the otherworldly town of Twin Peaks.
On Wednesday, there were trucks and tents around the house, and activity inside. A catering truck was a few blocks away.
Carol Thomas, Everett’s cultural arts manager, wouldn’t say that the project is a revival of the “Twin Peaks” TV series. She said the city was given a different working title: “Rancho Rosa.”
“Here’s the deal. I can’t confirm what the film is,” she said Wednesday, adding that the crew is not allowing press access. Thomas declined to name the actors involved, but said, “Oh my gosh,” when asked if there was star power in town.
The letter to neighbors is signed: “Niles Compau, Location Scout, ‘Rancho Rosa.’” A Google search found that “Rancho Rosa” and “Twin Peaks” are very likely one and the same.
In August, the California Film Commission announced a list of projects to be filmed in that state that will receive tax credits there. One of the conditionally approved projects for the tax credit is the production title “Twin Peaks” — listed with the company name “Rancho Rosa Partnership, Inc.”
Showtime announced late last year that a reboot of “Twin Peaks,” which aired from 1990 to 1991 on ABC, is coming in 2016 or 2017. Director David Lynch left the project this spring, but later reports said Lynch and co-creator Mark Frost would indeed write and direct the updated “Twin Peaks.” Lynch’s “strange little woodland noir” is how Herald movie critic Robert Horton described the “Twin Peaks” phenomenon in 1992.
An Everett press release said filming would take place Wednesday along Pigeon Creek Road and at the 33rd Street house. On Friday night, it said, neighbors will see lights and “may also hear dramatic screams.” The letter to neighbors said, “You may hear occasional yells or other loud noises” that “may sound like criminal activity.
“That is assuredly not the case,” the letter said. “The Everett Police Department is aware of our activities and will be on site with us.”
Thomas said the late-night filming could last until 6 a.m. Saturday. “There will be big lights out there. They call it hanging the moon, they put up so many lights,” she said.
Up the block from the house, Nancy Adcock said Wednesday she moved to the neighborhood in May and missed the previous “Twin Peaks” drama. “It’s going to be kind of exciting,” she said. Her father, Butch Adcock, visiting from Sequim, said “lots of looky-loos” were around hoping to see famous faces.
The “Twin Peaks” house was featured in The Herald in 2014 when it was for sale. Then-owner Marilyn Pettersen recalled in Andrea Brown’s article how “Peaks freaks” would sometimes knock on the door or take pictures. Snohomish County property records show the house was sold in September 2014 for $500,000 to Timothy and Mary Reber.
Thomas said a film crew of 70 to 100 people is in Everett this week. It’s an economic boost anytime the industry works here, she said.
When the movie “7 Minutes” was shot in Everett in 2013, “it was hundreds of overnight stays at the Holiday Inn,” she said. “There was an impact on local restaurants and bars. They leased warehouse space and private businesses for filming. They bought all their lumber at Martin Lumber. The economic impact is real.”
Location scouts have been in awe of the beauty here. “When the ‘7 Minutes’ team came, they got out in the middle of Everett Avenue and were just spinning around. On one side they saw the Cascades, on the other side the Olympics. They couldn’t believe it,” she said.
It poured rain Wednesday, but maybe that’s perfect for a spooky-strange “little woodland noir,” a show that surely won’t be called “Rancho Rosa.”
Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460; jmuhlstein@heraldnet.com.
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