Photo provided Director Ted Rouse, left, films two actors for the upcoming Turner Classic Movie documentary “40-Take Willy,” which will run next year. The Belmont County Victorian Mansion Museum in Barnesville was the setting for a brief scene.

BARNESVILLE — The Belmont County Victorian Mansion Museum has long been a centerpiece of the county and of Barnesville, and the museum’s commitment to maintaining its period atmosphere was rewarded recently as the museum will be showcased in a television production.

Museum President Kathy Messenger said the historical society was contacted by director Ted Rouse, making a documentary for Turner Classic Movies. A museum staff member, Brock Rogers, was selected to play a character.

“They came up Tuesday and filmed,” she said. “Our treasurer, he got a small part. He was the doctor.”

Rogers had one line.

“It was very interesting for Brock and I to see everything and how every scene was set up and what goes into it,” Messenger said. “It was eye-opening to see what goes into a film.”

Messenger said the Victorian Mansion fit Rouse’s needs.

“They were filming in Wheeling. They had some outdoor scenes near some Victorian homes, but the inside of the Victorian homes were modernized, so he couldn’t use them. He was asking around about a Victorian home that was something he could use,” she said. “He looked us up on the Facebook page and he called and he came a couple weeks before they filmed and scoped out what areas he wanted to use for the filming.”

The director and Messenger quickly hit it off.

“When he came here to the museum, he was very blown away by how period everything is, accurate to the era,” she said. “He said he doesn’t understand why it’s not used more.”

The museum was transformed into a production set, complete with stage lights and costumes and makeup for the actors.

She said there were about seven actors and about five lighting and crew members. She related a story of one actor who was in need of a different white shirt and had to go to the village thrift store to purchase one, still wearing his period costume at the time.

“I wonder what the people thought when he walked in,” Messenger said.

“It’s called ’40-Take Willy’ and it’s about William Wyler,” she said of the man who had directed classic films such as “Ben Hur,” “Funny Lady” and “Roman Holiday.” “It’s about his life story. A documentary about him. The actors always called him ’40-Take Willy’ because he would do 40 takes of one scene. That’s why he won so many Oscars.

“We’re decorating for our Christmas open house, so we had a couple of the parlors decorated for Christmas. In the movie there was a scene, so they did use one of the parlors and they used the grand entrance and the stairway and one of the bedrooms upstairs.”

Messenger also learned something about all the time and energy required for a movie’s screen time.

“They were here for 11 hours filming. I asked him: ‘Of all the things you filmed that day, how long will that be in the movie timewise?’ He said about five minutes,” she said. “No wonder movies are so expensive to make.”

She said this will be the first time the museum has had this level of exposure.

“This will be nationally. It’s even going to be up for an Emmy, it’ll be prime time,” she said. “On our algorithms and stuff, we’ve picked up new people. It has brought attention and stuff to the museum. We were appreciative of that, that they chose us.”

She said the movie will air next year. There may be a premiere in Barnesville after it comes out on TCM.

“It was a privilege to promote the museum and see how things work,” she said.

Meanwhile, Messenger said Christmas preparations are underway. The museum opens for holiday tours Nov. 5.

“We open early this year. We usually open after Thanksgiving,” she said. “We had so many visitors come last year while we were decorating.”

The museum is located at 532 N. Chestnut St. in Barnesville. The phone number is 740-425-2926, and the website is belmontcountymuseum.com.