Born and raised in Big Stone Gap, Virginia, author Adriana Trigiani wanted her feature debut to be a love letter to her hometown, and in every sense of the word it is. Filmed in the southern town with a number of locals and businesses featuring heavily in the romantic-comedy, not to mention the presence of hometown boy Patrick Wilson, the film had its world premiere last year at the Virginia Film Festival, where of course it was the star of the event. I know because I was there, and months later I'm still the only film critic who has reviewed Big Stone Gap.
That exclusivity is about to end as the first trailer has arrived ahead of the film's release in October. Starring Ashley Judd, Whoopi Goldberg, Patrick Wilson, Jenna Elfman, Jane Krakowski, John Benjamin Hickey, Jasmine Guy, and Anthony LaPaglia, the '70s-set comedy follows 40-year-old town beauty Ava Maria (Judd) as she deals with family secrets, new loves, and Big Stone Gap's colorful townsfolk. Here's the full synopsis:
Adriana Trigiani, in her debut as screenwriter/director, brings her best-selling novel BIG STONE GAP to the movies. BIG STONE GAP, shot entirely on location in Trigiani’s hometown, is the story of proud working people and their lives in a coal mining town nestled in the southwest corner of Virginia, deep in the Appalachian Mountains. Ave Maria Mulligan (Ashley Judd), the town’s self-proclaimed spinster, has resigned herself to a quiet life of singlehood and being useful. She works in her family’s pharmacy, delivers the prescriptions herself, and directs the town’s annual outdoor drama until one day she learns of a long-buried family secret that changes the course of her life forever.
Big Stone Gap opens on October 9th.
