Geneva street scenes to appear in new Christmas movie

Part of a Christmas movie for the ION Television cable channel was shot in Geneva in front of Town & Country Gardens, City Barbershop and Geneva Diner.

Town & Country Gardens Manager Brent Leech said a film crew shot a segment of “The Christmas Thief” in front of the store on State Street (Route 38) in September.

“They were filming all over the suburbs,” Leech said. “They needed a flower shop in a downtown setting, and one of their scouts walked by when I was outside. He asked about using the front of our store for a Christmas movie.”

The front of Town & Country Gardens, the barbershop next door and a vacant store next to the barbershop all were decorated for Christmas, and the film crew brought in fake snow, Leech said.

They also filmed the back alley that evening, and inside the Geneva Diner on Second Street, as well, Leech said.

“They were filming for about 4 1/2 hours, so it’s probably for a minute or two in the movie,” Leech said.

According to the special event application filed with the city, Roc Media Group/Thriller Films in Chicago shot the scenes Sept. 16.

“They told us it was ‘A Private Eye Christmas,’ but that they would probably change the name,” Leech said.

Leech was right. The title was changed to “The Christmas Thief,” Jen Emma Hertel, the location manager and line producer for the filming, said in an email.

The movie will premiere at 8 p.m. Dec. 5 on ION Television. It stars Lana Lawton – Michelle Borth on “Hawaii Five-O” – as a fledgling private eye home for the holidays, and Vivica Fox as the head of a local detective agency. The story involves a string of local burglaries where the main suspect is Santa Claus, according to a news release about the cable station’s upcoming holiday features.