Martha-Mary Chapel at the Wayside Inn, "The Invention of Lying" - Sudbury, MA - Movie Locations on Waymarking.com

Sudbury, on a gentle grassy slope with a backdrop of trees, is a white building with a beautiful steeple, making in all a classic romanticized New England landscape. This building is a non-denominational chapel that is used regularly for weddings and other events. Thus, it is a fitting place to be the location for a wedding scene for the movie, "The Invention of Lying."

The movie plot is about a writer, Mark Bellison [Ricky Gervais], in a world where no one can lie - until he discovers he can when he makes up a story about the hereafter when talking to his mother, Martha Bellison [Fionnula Flanagan], on her deathbed. The writer also suddenly found himself unemployed, in a rather direct exchange with his boss Brad Kessler [Rob Lowe], and since he was genetically inferior, he is not able to be with the woman, Anna Macdoogle [Jennifer Garner] he wants. At the hospital where his mother dies, the staff circulate the story, and the writer becomes prophet, since people don't know fabrication.

The chapel is used in both indoor and outdoor scenes. One scene is when Mark and Anna a walking together. But the main scene is when Mark attempts to break apart the wedding between Anna and Brad at the chapel. There are both indoor and outdoor shots in this scene. There are a few minor changes made, but generally the building and grounds areas in the movie are as they are normally.

For instance, inside, there is a stained glass window that is not normally part of the chapel (you'll have to see the movie to understand what it is of). Outside, a sign has been installed only for the movie, with the words, "A quiet place to think about the man in the sky" (Again, you'll have to see the movie).

The kicker that proves that this is the chapel used, is the appearance of the Redstone Schoolhouse in the far right edge of one of the outdoor movie scenes. Legend has it that the schoolhouse is where Mary of the poem "Mary Had a Little Lamb" went to school.

The chapel is known as the Martha-Mary Chapel. The names Martha and Mary were from Henry Ford's and Clara Ford's (his wife) mothers, Martha Bryant and Mary Litogot Ford. The chapel and school are now associated with the Wayside Inn just down Wayside Inn Road. This is a non-denominational chapel and is busy with weddings and other events. I have attended a rememberance ceremony and concert there.

Parking is available either at the Wayside Inn or by the Wayside Inn Grist Mill, on the same road.

Movie or TV Show: The Invention of Lying Year Released or First Aired: 2,009.00 IMDB Link: [Web Link]

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Date Logged Log User Rating   04/23/2018 RickAnn visited it