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Coal mine museum transformed into movie set

Crews have been hard at work in some parts of the coal region this week, filming a movie about crime and coal mining history.

LANSFORD, Pa. — This is behind the scenes of a new upcoming movie; ‘Twelve to Midnight.’

The set may look recognizable to folks familiar with Carbon County.

The Number Nine Coal Mine & Museum in Lansford is now part of a mystery thriller plot. 

Director Mark Savage says the area's anthracite coal history is a main feature in this movie.

“This region has such a rich history, but it's a history that I don't think everybody outside Pennsylvania is aware of,” he said.

“The mining industry, the railroad and coal industry and things like that, all those things are now gone so we now have to rely on tourist dollars. And with tourism, what a better way to bring in tourism other than to create a movie at all these great locations,” mentioned producer and Scranton filmmaker, Robert Savakinus.

Going across Schuylkill and Carbon counties all week, the production team relied on the knowledge of local residents to capture picture-perfect places on film.

“But you want to try to get as many local people as possible to come and be part of the crews. That's what this is, I think this crew here, it's probably like 60 or 70 percent local people,” Savage added.

Instead of learning through textbooks, the movie production staff hopes that viewers can learn about the rich coal mine history here, through the lens of entertainment.

“Just what these miners that you think about went through decades ago in these mines and they didn't have the technology we have now it's just kind of fascinating how they were able to produce so much,” explained Jeff Miller, Writer & Producer of ‘Twelve to Midnight.’.

“I've never really experienced or learned in school too much about what this region has to offer and especially the history of it. Of what built this country,” actor Evan Strand said.

The crew plans to finish filming by the end of the week to put our region's coal mines on the big screen in 2024.

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