Actress Claire Danes, left, and actor Hugh Dancy on the set of the movie Evening during filming yesterday at Brenton Point, on Ocean Drive in Newport.

THE PROVIDENCE JOURNAL / Steve Szydlowski

NEWPORT —“Picture’s up!” the production assistant called out. “Rolling!

In front of the camera, waves slowly roll ashore beneath a deep blue sky. A 1953 GMC bus pulls over. Actor Hugh Dancy, wearing a casual straw hat and loose white pants, throws down a lit cigarette at the side of his shiny burgundy 1948 Buick Roadmaster. He runs up to greet actress Clare Danes as she gets off the bus.

"Buddy!" she says.

"Hey!” he answers.

Antique cars pass by as the two hug, a woman in period clothes crosses the street with her golden retriever and a man with an old-fashioned fishing pole casts into the surf.

Brenton Point offered Hollywood moviemakers a perfectly timeless and cinematic backdrop yesterday for the latest in a series of movies to be made in Rhode Island recently. Evening is being shot in Tiverton, Jamestown and Newport, but yesterday was the first time that its production crew has filmed in such a public location.

"This is one of the opening shots of the movie,” producer Jeffrey Sharp said.

In it, Ann Grant (Danes), who comes from a humble background, visits an affluent family at its seaside mansion for a wedding.

"It’s a world that’s new to her,” Sharp said. “It’s all big and scary. The shot conveys that sense of awe.”

The Focus Features production is based on the novel Evening by Susan Minot, who visited while the film was being shot in Tiverton a couple of weeks ago. It’s the story of an elderly woman who recounts the defining moments of her life to her daughters as she is dying. It’s set in Maine in 1953.

The movie has an all-star cast, including Vanessa Redgrave, who plays Ann Grant when she’s older. Her real-life daughter, Natasha Richardson, plays one of her daughters, while the other daughter is played by Toni Collette. Meryl Streep and her daughter, Mamie Gummer, also play a mother and daughter. Glenn Close is in the cast, too.

Yesterday, the only stars that were filming were the two young talents, Danes (Shopgirl, The Hours and Mod Squad) and Dancy (Elizabeth I).

But there were plenty of antique props and extras to support them, including Melissa Rondeau, who sat on the seat of an old bicycle for hours on end. With the help of the costume and make-up experts, she wore a short floral skirt, bright red lipstick and plain white sneakers that were so small they cut into her ankle. What you couldn’t see was the tattoo above her ankles.

"It’s a Tasmanian devil drinking a beer. It’s not very 1953. They worked on covering it for 20 to 25 minutes,” said Rondeau. Although the 31-year-old Coventry woman sells pharmaceuticals and is a part-time psychotherapist, she aspires to act and is taking classes and auditioning for background work.

Also taking off a day from work was Gerry Brunelle, the fisherman. It’s a role that came naturally to the 60-year-old Portsmouth man.

"I’ve been fishing since I was a kid. It’s killing me to not be fishing when I’m ‘fishing,’ ” he said. “I’m fake casting.”

Brunelle, an engineer for Raytheon, has been in nine movies, including Amistad, one of the last feature films shot in Newport.

“It’s just interesting to see how the movie is put together. You get to meet some interesting people – the actors and the crew,” he said, “and the food is pretty good, too.”

Meals were served yesterday under a tent pitched at the state park, and occasionally someone on the crew would walk by with trays offering cheese and pepperoni, hamburgers and grilled cheese sandwiches.

One extra landed a role because of his performance in Underdog, recently shot in Providence. That was Scout, the golden retriever who calmly crossed the road in front of the bus with his owner, Bonnie Billington, of Portsmouth.

"I don’t like to leave him at home,” said Billington, who has enjoyed being an extra for years and has found an acting niche for her pet.

Following the filming at Brenton Point, the production crew moved in the afternoon to Third Beach Road. The remainder of the filming, which will end in Rhode Island at the end of the month, will take place in Newport, said publicist Amy Johnson.

Scenes will be shot at The Ledges, an understated white clapboard mansion overlooking Gooseberry Beach and owned by Howard Cushing Jr. In the movie, it is the home of the family that Danes’ visits for the wedding, which will be shot at Rosecliff. Additional filming will take place at Trinity Church.

Following that, the production crew moves to Greenwich Village, in New York City, for scenes set in the 1960s.