Innkeepers go behind the scenes with McConaughey, Douglas

By Lynn Hendricks
Staff writer

May 09, 2008 10:38 pm

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ROWLEY — As far as celebrity hideaways go, Los Angeles' Chateau Marmont and Miami's Delano Hotel won't soon be compared with the Country Garden Inn and Spa.

But when it comes to keeping the stars hidden from the public eye, few can match this upscale Rowley destination.

Two Hollywood A-listers — Matthew McConaughey and Michael Douglas — recently took up residence through March and April while filming the movie "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past" up at Castle Hill in Ipswich. Even when word got out that McConaughey may have been staying there last month, the staff was mum.

Innkeeper Alan Mahar says hotel staff was forced to keep details of the stars' stay on the down-low, mostly at the request of the film crew and security detail. But now that everyone has packed up and headed back west, he's ready to "dish" on the details of their stay.

Mahar says it all started with a mysterious visit in March from a representative with production company Avery Pictures, which made "Wedding Crashers" among others. The rep came to the Inn for a tour of the guest cottages located on Mahar's 41/2-acre property. He was accompanied by another man, John Cheney, and the two ended up booking multiple units — reserving one of the two finest properties on-site for a man named Matthew David.

When a black SUV pulled up to the unit some days later, leading man McConaughey stepped out, and the Mahars' winter season was pretty much laid out for them. It was all clandestine operations from that point on, protecting the privacy of McConaughey and the film's director, Mark Waters ("Mean Girls"), who was also staying on-site.

It turned out Cheney, the gentleman who originally toured the Inn, was McConaughey's bodyguard. He picked McConaughey up at the door of his townhouse each morning between 5 and 6 a.m., so the Mahars didn't see too much of the star.

But a few details of the star's lifestyle were impossible to miss.

He's an avid nutrition junkie, according to Mahar, who said McConaughey came to the inn with his own set of weights, a healthy supply of vitamin shakes and nutritional supplements, and an on-set chef to prepare his health-conscious meals.

"For a guy that's pushing 40 to look that good, you know he's working hard at it," Mahar said.

Mahar says about the only vice he witnessed was the star's predilection for chewing tobacco, or snuff, which was tucked under his lower lip and nearly imperceptible to the casual viewer.

"He had a little cup where he'd spit it out," Mahar said.

McConaughey's expectant girlfriend, Brazilian swimsuit model Camila Alves, visited often, and the two pretty much kept to themselves when not up at Castle Hill on-set.

"His girlfriend was here three or four times while he was here," Mahar said. "She was seven months pregnant and beautiful."

Every star has his fan base, and McConaughey was a hands-down favorite of Mahar's 23-year-old daughter Tana.

Michael Douglas, of "Basic Instinct" and 'Romancing the Stone" fame, is a star more familiar to Alan Mahar and his wife, Cindy, however, and when they got a call in March that director Waters should be bumped out of his townhouse for the evening to make room for a very important guest, they figured it must be Douglas.

The reservation was placed in the name of one Jack Colton. For anyone not familiar with "Romancing the Stone" and its sequel, Colton was the dashing lead character played by Douglas.

Douglas signed on to "Ghosts" in February to play McConaughey's womanizing mentor, Uncle Wayne, who in death is paying for his past sins and must persuade McConaughey to change his ways and visit the ghosts of three past girlfriends, in the spirit of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol."

Douglas was only in town for a single night, but Mahar and his family saw more of him than they did of McConaughey, mainly due to the star's down-to-earth demeanor and accessibility.

"Michael Douglas was very free and outgoing," Mahar said. "He didn't think of himself as a special guy. I would have thought he'd be more private."

Douglas came right down into the lobby, says Mahar, and said, "Hi, I'm Michael Douglas. I think you have a room for me."

"He couldn't have been more like anyone else," Mahar said.

Douglas asked hotel clerk Caleb Johnson for dining recommendations and settled on fine dining establishment Sydney & Hampton. Since he and his bodyguard had no wheels between them, Johnson offered to give them a ride to and from the restaurant.

Unfortunately for Johnson, his boss was too big a fan to let an opportunity like that pass him by.

He told Johnson, "I'm gonna pull rank on you cause I'm giving Michael Douglas a ride to dinner."

Wife Catherine Zeta-Jones called three times throughout the night for Douglas, and upon leaving the Inn Douglas exclaimed how much he loved the Northeast and said he planned to return with his wife and children sometime soon. Mahar said McConaughey was equally charmed.

"My wife had a five-minute conversation with (McConaughey)," Mahar said. "It was one of the mornings they were checking out, and he was just hanging out waiting for his ride. He said he really appreciated the quiet and the privacy here."

Cruising the grounds of the Inn, it's not hard to imagine why. Serenity comes to mind, looking over the tranquil pond, meandering lawns, fountains and well cultivated flower beds.

"There's really no place around here that can put people up like this," said Mahar, who makes mention of the fireplaced cottages, Jacuzzi tubs, and in-room spa services that await his guests.

McConaughey was gracious enough to pose with the Mahar family in front of the Inn, and they've posted the photos in several areas throughout the Inn lobby. Despite the decreased excitement level around the Inn, the Mahars take heart that their tranquil Inn on the East Coast might draw more business as a result of the notoriety they're now receiving.

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