Scene Around: A Rumson Family’s ‘Shelter in Solitude’

Have you seen her? Probably. At the store, in the car, at local haunts, at charity events, at the schools, at church — and on stage, on TV … and in the movies. The latest you’ll see of her, other than around the towns, is on screen in the now streaming movie Shelter in Solitude.

She’s Siobhan Fallon Hogan. She’s a Rumsonite. And, among (or sometimes above) other things, she’s an actress. Rumson’s local celebrity. And seeing her in the movies these days means also knowing that it’s a Hogan family affair in independent filmmaking. Call it, rather, a Rumson family production/acting entourage of three RFH grads — her husband Pete and kids — and a character actress star/screenwriter imported to Rumson by marriage.

A 1979 RFH grad, Pete Hogan is a pretty much forever Rumsonite. He’s the producer. The couple’s RFH grad son, Peter, is a 2016 RFH grad who is a producer, music supervisor and an actor in the film. Daughter Sinead, a 2019 RFH grad, is the production designer and also an actress in the film.

There’s no RFH or Rumson in Siobhan’s upbringing. She’s from Cazenovia, NY. In fact, the production company’s name is Emerald Caz, the Emerald because of the Irish both are and the Caz because of Siobhan’s Cazenovia roots. Shelter was also shot in Siobhan’s hometown area. All that aside, Siobhan’s a Rumsonite now. Has been for some time.

There are many other RFH ties to this movie, such as the Ward family. The score, for instance, is by Kyle Ward, RFH grad. His parents, Lynne and Hugh, are executive producers. And there are more.

Check out the credits at the movie’s end.

About the movie …

Shelter in Solitude, set in pandemic times, hones in on a death row prisoner, played by actor Peter Macon, with 10 days until he becomes a dead man walking. Enter Siobhan Fallon Hogan as washed up country singer Val Fagan who hangs onto her faith, dreams and love with a pure heart in a rumpled package. Val sang in Nashville once, drinks a little too much, gets herself tied up with all the wrong guys because of her “unearned effervescence,” but never quits on the optimism fate can hold.

The cozy dive bar she owns and sings in, aptly named Val’s (unintentional Rumson tie), gets shut down due to COVID. Always on some misguided mission, she’s bored and antsy, so she gets a job as Macon’s solitary confinement guard at the prison where her brother, played by Robert Patrick, is the warden. A bond is forged between the two. The movie takes us on their journey into the searing, flickering light of it all.

Why such a story? Well, Siobhan’s father was an attorney in Syracuse, NY. Stories of his defendants always fascinated her, she has said in interviews, as did the prisons he visited. Shelter was a way to flesh out her childhood fantasies of the other side intertwined with her Catholic faith — a thread in her work. It honors her father — her parents — too.

That honor flows down to her own family — in their hometown heeding their own call. Then, of course, there’s the family-that-produces-and-acts-together thing.

On the subject of Rumson, RFH and family, in case you didn’t know, as most in the R-FH area did, the movie Rushed was also a Hogan production written by Siobhan and starring her, but was filmed in Rumson.

That is streaming as well.

As for Shelter in Solitude …

It had its wide release in October in AMC and Regal theaters across the country. Since Friday it’s been streaming on Amazon Prime, Apple TV, YouTube, Vudu and Google Play. You can purchase the movie on Amazon as well for $19.95. The film has been lauded by locals and all across the country. It has a 98 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. And, now with friends and fans able to rent or buy the film, a review on Amazon will boost it even further up the charts. The Hogans ask that you spread the word, rent or buy the movie and write a review.