Library Plays Its Part in Disney Production

The city’s quiet Central Library was transformed into a noisy movie set Thursday and Friday nights for a Walt Disney Co. production titled “Romy and Michelle’s High School Reunion,” starring Oscar-winning actress Mira Sorvino.

The Disney picture, which officials said will bring the city about $20,000, is described as a lighthearted comedy about two best friends who attend their 10-year high school reunion and find that a former “nerd,” whose advances they had once rejected, has now become desirable.

The film also features actresses Janeane Garofalo, of the recently released picture “The Truth About Cats and Dogs,” and Lisa Kudrow of the television sitcom “Friends.”

Newport Beach’s library, at 1000 Avocado Ave., “fit the bill exactly” for the movie, said Gary DeGalla, a location manager for Disney who recently spotted the building from a helicopter.

“They needed something with a linear style,” DeGalla said of the filmmakers. “It’s kind of modern, kind of a Frank Lloyd Wright knock-off.”

Newport Beach began wooing filmmakers in 1987, when 22 productions were shot there, said Glen Everroad, the city’s film coordinator. Scenes from about 150 movies a year are filmed there, Everroad said.