Yes, that’s Carolyn and Jim Ringler’s living room furniture. That’s their pool. That’s pretty much everything of the Ada couple’s in the new Hallmark Channel made-for-cable movie, “Perfectly Prudence,” starring Jane Seymour, that premieres at 9 p.m. Saturday.
“They used almost everything that was ours. (The production manager) said, ‘You will recognize every room, because it has 90 percent of your stuff in it,’” Carolyn Ringler said. The movie was filmed entirely at the Ringlers’ 11,200-square-foot, nine-bedroom, 11-bathroom Ada home for three weeks in September and October.
The movie is a sequel to the 2008 Hallmark Channel film “Dear Prudence,” about a TV-show host who helps solve a murder. It follows Prudence MacIntyre (Seymour), who is asked to rework her TV show, thanks to the addition of new producers, one of whom includes a former beau.
For the Ringler family, the 170-person production meant relocating to the Crowne Plaza hotel for a few weeks. But they were allowed to visit the set on occasion, including a lunch with Seymour.
“She showed us all of her paintings on her iPad and showed us her son’s boy band (PT5). He’s about the age of my daughter, so that was interesting,” said Ringler, 40. “According to her, it’s going to be the next big band.
“She has twin boys, and I have twin girls, so we had that in common. We talked about that a little bit. She was very lovely, personable, formal.”
The Ringler family — Dr. Jim Ringler, an orthopedic trauma surgeon, 14-year-old Meghan, 12-year-old Katelyn, 8-year-old twins Lauren and Allison, and Carolyn — were able to get Seymour’s signature on the one movie they had in which she starred — “Wedding Crashers.”
“Everybody was super friendly,” Carolyn said. Film crews searched 30 Detroit- and 30 Grand Rapids-area homes before hearing about the Ringlers’ estate, built by Dan and Pamella DeVos in 1987.
The crew liked the home’s 14 acres, on which to film some secluded outdoor scenes, as well as the home’s nice decor. “(The set designer) said, ‘Finally, a house that’s at least decorated decently,’” Ringler said.
The crews utilized and paid for a four-wheeler, as well as using Jim Ringler’s car. They also paid for the Ringlers’ stay at the Crowne Plaza and their dogs’ day care fees. Besides some appliance switches and some items still tucked away in closets and drawers, there isn’t much for Ringler to fix or rearrange, save for maybe a stray bug or two.
“It was interesting, because they had all the windows open without any screens in, no air conditioning on because of the sound,” Ringler recalled, noting the crews turned off every appliance, even furnaces, that would make any noise. “(I thought), ‘Oh my gosh, I’m never going to get rid of all these bugs.’”