Movie Filming Here Using Local School and Students

Hollywood has come to Fayette County.

The old red schoolhouse at Fayetteville ISD was abuzz with activity Thursday as dozens of local students – many cast as extras and others pressed into service to help the camera crew – got out of class to help with the filming of a new movie “The Sound of Willow.”

“My name’s going to be in the credits,” one boy proudly told a classmate.

Off to the side, Lee Majors, 86, (yes, that Lee Majors, who was one of the biggest TV stars of the 60s, 70s and 80s thanks to his roles in “The Big Valley,” and “The Fall Guy,” and “The Six Million Dollar Man”) sat on a sofa in the library waiting for his next scene.

Though he walked with a cane, Majors still looked every bit a leading man.

“This is a fantastic opportunity for our students,” said Fayetteville Superintendent Dr. Jeff Harvey. “After talking with the director, I thought this was something really exciting to be involved with.”

Harvey explained that about six weeks ago he got a call from folks involved with the film interested in checking out their 115-year-old red school building, which the school began restoring back in 2021 and now serves as a school library.

“This school’s old, it’s red brick. It has some history and it’s well-built and that shows on camera,” said Director Shawn Welling, who has at least 43 directing and 25 acting roles to his credit.

The look of the school fit in perfectly for a scene in this movie. Part of the synopsis is “In a modest school, a drama teacher (played by Majors), a music coach and head music teacher, inspire students, especially seven-year-old Willow Cassidy, who faces a devastating illness. As the Christmas pageant unfolds, Willow’s silent spirit transforms into a Christmas miracle.”

Welling said the story is partially based on a true story.

“There were these four children who were basically given a death sentence in 1990 and told they would not live because they had these brain tumors. We took that story and made those four characters into one character,” Welling said.

Welling’s real life daughter, Emmarain, plays the title role of Willow, and at the beginning of the movie, she only communicates through a pink notepad before finding her voice later in the movie.

At the end of the movie there’s a big choir scene that will be filmed at Festival Hill in Round Top.

But Thursday it was the Fayetteville red school building, and the Fayetteville students that were the real stars.

Welling really wanted Fayetteville to feel a part of this movie.

“Who gets a school to work with you this closely?” said Welling. “It came so easily, and that’s exciting for us.”