BELGIUM, WI — A big production in small town Wisconsin. Filming was underway for the faith-based thriller, "Through Eyes of Grace" on Thursday.
As Mark Noll mows his lawn, he’s glancing over at St. Mark Lutheran Church in Belgium. He’s wondering why the lot is so full on a Thursday morning.
“I was confused on what was going on at the church,” Noll said.
Inside the chapel, there is a big production with hopes of putting the congregation and Belgium, a small village of 2,245 people, on the map.
“We're not Hollywood and we don't get a whole lot out here and it's nice when special things like this do happen,” said Dave Payton, author of “Through Eyes of Grace.” He also acts in the move.
Payton stars alongside Franki Moscato and Victoria Jackson, best known for American Idol and Saturday Night Live, respectively.
"It's about a small-town pastor who begins to doubt his faith when his teenage daughter goes missing,” Payton said.
"I was like this is like a murder mystery movie-slash-Christian thriller,” Jackson added.
St. Mark's actual pastor, Wayne King, said he's excited about seeing his church and the community recognized.
"I thought, why us? They came, looked at it thought it was perfect and I said I don't see why not,” King said.
Now some of that attention turns to Belgium, giving the small, proud village a little more pride in itself.
"It's a small community and it's nice to see a movie being filmed here,” Noll said.
Filming for the movie is set to be finished next summer. The book can be found here.
For more information, movie organizers provided this:
“Through Eyes of Grace” is a movie based on the book with the same name by Dave Payton of Sheboygan, Wisconsin. It takes us through a small-town pastor’s heart-pounding trauma of discovering his teenage daughter has gone missing. As the local sheriff and his deputies dive into the hunt for clues, the townspeople of the small, tight-knit community scramble to hide their own secrets. The movie stars author and award-winning actor Dave Payton as the pastor, American Idol gold ticket winner Franki Moscato as the missing teen, and features Saturday Night Live veteran Victoria Jackson as the teen’s dementia-ridden piano teacher. The film is directed by Mike Determan."
