"Our Very Own" producer-director-writer Cameron Watson arrives at the movie's Capri Theatre premiere. To his immediate right is executive producer Robert McLean, whose financing made it possible for the film to be made. (T-G Photo by Brian Mosely) [Click to enlarge]

The reception at the Fly Arts Center before the Shelbyville premiere of "Our Very Own" on Saturday gave everyone a chance to get reacquainted with old friends.

Those old friends just happened to be movie stars; actors welcomed back with open arms to the town where the film was shot last summer.

As soon as he entered the building, fans flocked to meet one of the film's stars, Jason Ritter, who plays Clancy Whitfield in the movie.

Asked about his return to Shelbyville after last year's filming, Ritter said it was a lot of fun. "It's everything about Shelbyville that I love, everyone is so nice and genuine, I'm just excited to be back."

Ritter said he grew up on Los Angeles and never had the sense of what it was like to live in a smaller town. "It was a real eye opening experience for me," Ritter said the movie's production last year in Shelbyville. "The amount of trust and kindness I experienced completely overwhelmed me."

Ritter's character has to balance his home life and his time with his friends and the actor said he mapped it all out on a big piece of paper to make the performance as real as possible.

"I talked to Cam and tried to get a sense from him what it was like growing up in this period of time. It was a really great learning experience."

Beth Grant

Veteran actress Beth Grant, who has the role of Virginia Kendal, said she was very moved about writer/director Cameron Watson return to Shelbyville to premiere the film.

"I can't imagine going to my home town and having created a work of art about the people I love the most in world, about my home town, and then being able to present it to them and have them come to the movie... I think it's a moving and very spiritual experience."

She told Watson to "take in the love and give it back. It's all about love tonight. It's a beautiful thing."

Grant said that some movies have their own life and journey that find their way like the Little Engine That Could, and she felt that "Our Very Own" will be like that.

"It's a sweet, very realistic, perfect portrayal of small town life, it's so much my experience growing up in the South and my friends and I think word of mouth is going to be huge with this film.

"I'm very proud of Cameron Watson," Grant said. The actress brought her daughter Mary, who will turn 13 soon, to see the film for the first time. As a coming of age story, Grant felt it was a good time to let her see it.

Autumn Reeser

The role of Melora Kendal is played by Autumn Reeser, a relative newcomer to the acting world. Following shooting "Our Very Own" last summer, she appeared in the ABC sitcom "Complete Savages" and has been cast as a new member of the smash hit television series "The O.C."

Reeser was stunned by the turnout and reception the actors were given. "It's fun, it's so nice to be back here ... I've been looking forward to coming back."

She was certain that the movie was destined to become a big success. "If we can find someone with the same kind of vision that (executive producer) Bob McLean had, taking a chance ... it's not a big 'shoot 'em up' film', it's a small, sweet film. If we can get someone to take a chance like Bob McLean did, I think it will be huge.

"Everyone who has seen it falls in love with it; it's such a heartwarming picture," she said.

The film has also acted as a springboard in her career, with Reeser's role in the upcoming season of "The O.C.," which is much different than the wholesome character she plays in "Our Very Own."

"It should be fun. I play a villain. I like it, it's good to do both." Her episodes begin on Sept. 15 and continue in the next seven episodes.

Derek Carter

The movie may have been a springboard for Reeser's acting career, but it's been a catapult for Murfreesboro native Derek Carter, who graduated from MTSU with a mass communications major right before shooting the film last year.

He was back home from Los Angeles for the premiere and after being "discovered" by the filmmakers of "Our Very Own,"  Carter has landed a new series on the Oxygen channel called "Campus Ladies," produced by fellow cast member Cheryl Hines. The show starts in January.

He said the odds of being cast in a movie just down the road from his hometown were "not very good."

"I got the kind of break that every actor dreams of ... it happened for me then and happened again when I moved to L.A. (with the "Campus Ladies part)." Carter plays a college freshman who befriends a pair of middle age women who return to college and find themselves out of touch with campus life.

Carter hasn't been home since Christmas and said he really loves L.A.. "This will always be my home, but I feel I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing." Derek has seen the film four times now and says he is "just sucked into the story.

"Cam said that the movie is the end product that he wanted to make without any compromise on anybody's part. He made the exact film he wanted to make and it shows. Bob McLean is the best executive producer in the entire world.

"He just gave Cam the reins and said, 'Make the movie that you want to make,'" Carter said. "We did and it's amazing."

Mary Badham

In the process of making the film he wanted, Watson managed to do what no director has done in nearly 40 years: Bring Academy Award nominee Mary Badham back to the silver screen.

Badham is a legend in motion picture history; at the age of 9 she was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Scout Finch in "To Kill a Mockingbird. She also appeared in the final "Twilight Zone" episode and starred in "This Property is Condemned" in 1966 opposite Robert Redford and Natalie Wood.

When Badham was first contacted about doing the role of Mrs. Nutbush, she was attending the cast party for the annual performance of "Mockingbird" in Monroeville, Ala., when she was told there was a phone call from a casting director.

"I said, 'Yeah, right,'" Badham remembered.

She admits thinking someone was pulling her leg with "sort of a Candid Camera thing," so she played along with it. On the phone was Kim Petrosky, one of the casting directors. Petrosky listed all the people she contacted in her efforts to get hold of Badham, and asked her if she still believed any of the call was real.

Badham said no.

But it was real, and Petrosky asked if Watson could talk to her about the film. Watson made the call and the pair talked for a long time, and the script for the film was sent ... and then...

"I fell in love with the script, it's beautiful ... all the people involved with the film, they're so beautiful, they're so sweet, we had so much fun. To work with people like Keith Carradine and Jason Ritter and Allison Janney, they are so incredible, just fabulous actors. It was such an honor to be a part of this film."

Badham said she had no idea if appearing in "Our Very Own" would bring her back into the film world. But she is sure of one thing: "This is what America wants to see."

"Hollywood wants to make the stuff that makes it unsuitable for family viewing. The other night I wanted to take my children to a movie... and I could not find a film to take them to where the whole family could go.

"If this film was at the theater, this would be the film I would take them to," Badham said.

She said the movie was wonderful and "such a fun bookend for me."

Michael McKee

McKee has the role of the one of the five teenagers, Glen Tidwell, and this is his first motion picture appearance. He graduated last year from performing arts high school and has been in numerous stage productions already.

He said he couldn't wait for Shelbyville to see the movie, "to see their inspiration on screen."

McKee said the response the film received in Los Angeles was "fantastic" and that they've had great press. "The buzz is all over Hollywood about it, I can't see it not going anywhere."

Amy Landers

It was welcome back and welcome home for Landers, who is a native of Murfreesboro but with family in Shelbyville: Cam Watson is her uncle and the acting bug appears to run in the family. [She is the granddaughter of Jean Landers of Shelbyville and the late Lytle "Jug" Landers.]

Her television credits include "Joey," a recurring role on "Frasier," roles in "JAG," "The Trouble with Normal," "Sabrina the Teenage Witch" and "Days of Our Lives."

"I sort of followed in his footsteps out to Hollywood, and aspired in the way he did. I was wonderful to come home and make a movie." She called the premiere a dream come true for Cameron and said the whole family was proud of him, to be in it and to be a part of the film.

"It really is a lovely tribute to this town."