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"Megan's Christmas Miracle" Brings JCFilms, Actor Dean Cain to Bridgeport

By Julie Perine on June 07, 2018 via Connect-Bridgeport.com

Dean Cain has starred in "Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman" and 100-plus movies. He was host of "Ripley's Believe it or Not", "10 Million Dollar Bigfoot Bounty" and involved in long list of other entertainment ventures. 
 
This week brought Cain - and an early Christmas - to Bridgeport. 
 
On Wednesday, some pick-up scenes for “Megan’s Christmas Miracle” were filmed at Studio 9 Dance Academy and at the home of studio owner, Heather Mudrick. Both locations were dressed in their holiday best, helping to set the scene for the holiday-time flick.
 
The faith-based movie has been filmed completely in West Virginia and stars Brooklyn Nelson, who played the role of young Elsa in Disney’s “Frozen, the Broadway Musical.”
 
Nelson wasn’t involved in the Bridgeport filming because those scenes featured Megan as an adult, a role played by Katherine “Kat” Shaw of Pittsburgh. As her character is a dance instructor, she was filmed working with young dancers of Studio 9 including Mudrick's daughters Madison, Emma and Grace Hansberry. The scenes also featured Ronda Suder, originally of Belington, who plays the role of the assistant dance instructor. Suder also assisted in the writing of the film. 
 
Shaw and Cain, who plays her husband – were filmed in scenes at Mudrick’s home. Making an appearance – via photographs – were Bridgeport High School alums Justin and Jared Massie. They posed in a “family portrait” with Shaw and Cain.
 
“We play their sons, but we’re not really in the movie,” Justin Massie said. “We are supposed to be away at college.”
 
But various photographs – and references to the Massie boys – will be included in the film, a project of JCFilms, a faith-based film company. Originally from Lynchburg, Va., Jason Campbell is writer, executive producer and co-owner. He shared why he brought his work to West Virginia.
 
“I started JCFilms five years ago with Erik Estrada. He and I made a film called ‘Finding Faith.’ It was our first film and we toured around the country with it, one of our stops being Chestnut Ridge Church in Morgantown,” Campbell said. “I loved the area and decided to move here and moved the whole company here. We’ve produced about 13 films in the last five years. A lot has been shot in West Virginia, but not in Bridgeport.”
 
Campbell’s first connection to Bridgeport was through the Wonder Bar Steak House, which also served as a filming location. Campbell said he and owner Danny Watts, also from Lynchburg, are childhood friends.
 
“Being in the restaurant business, Danny knows what’s going on in town. I said I need this, this and this and he made a couple of phone calls and had it all set up,” Campbell said.
 
One of those phone calls was to Mudrick, who was more than happy to open her studio and her home to the making of the faith-based movie. It’s that kind of small-town connection that Campbell loves and what makes Bridgeport an ideal place for the shoot.
 
“I like Bridgeport. I like the way that everything is so close together and when shooting a film, it’s very easy for people not to get lost,” he said. “Heather is great and the studio is great and everything here has some connection and that’s important. The studio and the folks at Wonder Bar have helped us out with filming and all the hotels - and everything – has been good.”
 
Based loosely on a book of the same name written by Eleanor Wright, “Megan’s Christmas Miracle” takes place in a West Virginia small town, not really named in the film.
 
“It’s about a young girl who comes to a coal mine town in West Virginia. She’s 12 years old and her mother just passed away. She’s being raised by her father and she’s not a big fan of the coal mine town and, of course, she is still grieving the loss of her mother,” Campbell said. “She used to dance with her mother, but when her mom died, she quit dancing. But through this experience of Christmas, a nativity scene at a church seems to come to life and speaks to her. Her mother comes back to her and she begins to dance again.”
 
The movie is slated to be released before Christmas of this year. Most of the filming was done in late-2017.
 
“We shot it about nine months ago in Beckley,” Campbell said. “But we had some pick-up stuff we needed to do to finalize it.”
 
But he plans to come back - and stay longer.
 
“Bridgeport is on my radar. I’d like to shoot a full-feature film here in January,” he said. “I just got back from Boston where I met with the author. It’s an incredible story.”
 
A graduate of Liberty University, Campbell started JCFilms because he had a passion to change the culture of the film industry. He said he is very happy with the cast of “Megan’s Christmas Miracle.”
 
Nelson is a rising young talent and Campbell is glad her screen debut will be with JCFilms.
 
“And we’re so excited to have Dean in this. He’s done 23 Christmas movies and this film will be nice to put into the mix,” he said.
 
Cain said he has been to West Virginia before and likes it very much. This was his first trip to Bridgeport. When asked how he liked it here, he said it was great. He said he figured he better say as much. Looking around the room, he said he was definitely outnumbered by Bridgeport/West Virginia folks.
 
Mudrick was happy to open her studio and her home to the filming of the movie. In preparation, she has spent the last several days decorating her home, inside and out, for Christmas. She said her neighbors wondered what she was up to. Come December, they will be able to watch the project that was partially filmed in their own neighborhood. 
 
Learn more about JCFilms HERE



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