The two met on the front lawn and kissed, seemingly oblivious to their surroundings
-- policemen directing traffic, paparazzi snapping photos of Thurman from the other
side of Round Hill Road and the hundred or so members of the production crew
working around them.

Thurman was filming a scene for "The Accidental Husband," scheduled to be
released next year. Griffin Dunne is the director and Graham King is the executive
producer for the movie that also stars Colin Firth, Isabella Rossellini, Sam Shepard
and Jeffrey Dean Morgan.

The interdenominational church was chosen as the setting for a wedding scene, and
filming there will continue through tomorrow. A private home on Meadowcroft Lane
was also used in the movie, according to movie officials, with most of that filming
already completed.

For the Rev. Robert Walker, the church pastor, it was natural for producers to pair
the movie with the church.

"It's the quintessential New England-type church. We do a lot of weddings here, and
that's what they wanted to film here," Walker said.

The romantic comedy focuses on Thur-man's character, Emma, a radio talk show
host who is preparing for her wedding. Emma's life is complicated by a man trying
to get revenge because her relationship advice ruined his life. To block her planned
nuptials, the man, played by Morgan, forges a wedding certificate so it appears she
is already married -- to him. As Emma confronts her fake husband, she becomes
attracted to him and conflicted on who she should love -- him or her fiance. The
movie, by Yari Film Group, includes a scene in which Emma stops her wedding to
the other man by pulling the fire alarm. But the crew was mum yesterday on how
the film turns out.

Producers "originally wanted fire and water coming down on the actors in the
church," but that wasn't acceptable to church trustees who want to protect the
historical church founded in 1810, Walker said. "They'll have to do it by special
effects."

This is the first movie to be filmed at Round Hill, according to Walker. Filming was
scheduled to be completed before the rush of holiday programs begin, but the church was still hosting a nursery school and a parents' and children's program yesterday,
creating a packed parking lot; otherwise, it's been a pleasant experience, Walker
said.

Church employees are enjoying the Hollywood atmosphere as well. Several were
working at the nursery school down the hall from Thurman's dressing room and
the sanctuary, giving them glimpses of the actors scurrying through the church on
the way to a scene.

"It's tons of fun," said Mindy Dudley, director of the nursery school. She lent her
soon-to-be-famous furniture to the production crew to use as set pieces. "That's
the closest I'll come to show business."

Jeannine Williamson, a nursery school staff member, said her bid to get in front of
the camera, just like her co-workers, was not to be -- the only extras used are in an
actors union.

"We all offered to be extras," she said of herself, Dudley and Leigh Retzler, who
were running the school in the rear section of the church. "I would have offered
to let a fire truck run over my foot."

First Church of Round Hill was chosen for filming partly because it is located in
Connecticut, where a tax credit that refunds 30 percent of production costs to entice
movie crews to film in the state was approved this year, according to production
designer Mark Ricker. That rebate also attracted the producers of Thurman's "In
Bloom," shooting in Connecticut this year.

"The Accidental Husband" script has scenes in Manhattan and Queens, Ricker said,
but they also needed a church to use for the wedding. With Connecticut's rebate in
mind, location scouts searched Greenwich to find a church that fit the profile of
Emma, who the storyline says grew up in Great Neck, Long Island. Some aspects of
the Greenwich setting could be altered to fit the movie. The church's lawn sign is
replaced with one that reads "First Church of Great Neck." The fire trucks that pulled
up in front of the church were brought in from the real-life Great Neck Fire Department, movie officials said.

But what they couldn't easily replicate was a historic, intimate church that would
reflect Emma's roots. Ricker said First Church of Round Hill only became a
possibility near the end of the search.

"We looked at a lot of churches. Some were too big, some were too busy. This one we
didn't see until the very last minute," Ricker said. "A scout showed up one day and
said, 'I've got one last church.' "

It was exactly what they needed, Ricker went on.

"It's the most perfect little church," he said. "It had a nice, contained size."

Walker thinks so, too, and he hopes the movie will get people talking about
Round Hill.

"We're off the beaten path in Greenwich, and a lot of people don't even know this
church exists," he said. "It's a neat thing knowing that a lot of people, millions of
people, will really see the beauty of this place."