Bobby and Peter Farrelly are expected to attend the screening of their latest comedy, Stuck on You, at Woonsocket's Stadium Theatre Dec. 11 in a $150-a-ticket premiere performance that will benefit both Meeting Street and the Cape Cod Center for Women.
The Farrellys, who grew up in Cumberland and are best known for the films Dumb and Dumber and There's Something About Mary, which had a premiere showing at the Stadium in 1998, are expected to arrive shortly before show time, according to their assistant, Kris Myer.
Stuck on You stars Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear as conjoined twins who have developed different ideas about their futures. Neither of the stars are expected to attend, due to other commitments.
Myer said the Stadium showing, on the day before Stuck on You opens nationwide, will be preceded by premieres in Baltimore and New York City. Following the screening, the audience will be invited back to the Providence Biltmore for a party.
"It's mostly just for friends and family," said Myer, who explained that tickets for the sold-out event were invitation-only and sent to people who know the Farrellys. "We were given a limited number of tickets to sell to special donors," said Shelly Murphy, director of marketing communications at Meeting Street, a facility serving "children with and without disabilities." She added that the Farrellys wanted to keep it an event mostly for family and friends. "I don't think they want to walk into a room full of strangers."
Murphy said that Meeting Street, which will split the proceeds with the Cape Cod Center for Women, a shelter for battered women and their children, was selected because its board chairman, Malcolm Chace, "had a bit part in the movie, knew they supported non-profits and asked them to come see Meeting Street."
Shortly after that, she said, the filmmakers' father, Robert "Doc" Farrelly, arrived to check out the facility with "a whole slew of family members" and the film's producer, Marc Charpentier. "They were impressed and said they definitely wanted us to be part of it." Murphy added that the Farrellys are scheduled to visit Meeting Street in East Providence during their visit.
Mary Starr, executive director of the Cape Cod Center for Women, said they got part of the proceeds from the There's Something About Mary premiere and have benefitted from other fundraisers over the years sponsored by the Farrelly family. It all began, she said, several years ago when Bobby Farrelly's wife, Nancy, saw a newspaper article about the center. She is currently on its board of directors.
"They try to spread their fund raising around," said Starr, "but we were small and struggling so they continued to help us. Doc Farrelly, who has a place on the Cape, has become almost like a godfather to us. He stays in touch and calls to offer advice."
The domestic violence shelter, which is in a house in a residential neighborhood, "can take up to five moms and 8 to 10 children," said Starr. They can stay there up to 90 days while they get counseling and help from the staff. Starr said state and federal cutbacks have hurt their annual operating budget of $380,000, which is still $140,000 in the red. "So we're very very fortunate" to be part of the benefit screening in Woonsocket.
