‘The Makeover’ films its last days in Boston

The cast and crew of the Hallmark Hall of Fame movie “The Makeover” finished shooting indoor scenes on Harrison Street late last week. Actress Julia Stiles, of the Bourne trilogy, dashed between rooms while director John Gray — whose credits include “The Ghost Whisperer” and “Brian’s Song” — looked on. A few of the rooms in the South End building looked like campaign offices, which makes sense; “The Makeover” is an adaptation of “Pygmalion” that has Ivy League-educated Hannah Higgins (played by Stiles) turning Bostonian Elliot Doolittle (played by David Walton) into a viable candidate for office. Christopher Morgan, a coproducer of “The Makeover” (and the son of the late Harry Morgan, of “M*A*S*H” fame), told us that when the project finishes this week, it will have shot for 23 days, which is about a week longer than most TV movies. Locations have included the Public Garden, sites in Newton and Milton, and the Harrison Street building, which the crew transformed into a maze of sets and craft services. Morgan said it’s been nice to film around Boston, mainly because of the history. “It’s Boston,” he said. “It’s where the country began.” Of course, it’s not always easy to film in historic places that require permits and special consideration, but “it almost always works out,” he assured us. Morgan also told us that it’s been a treat to hire so many locals. Bostonians working on “The Makeover” include Joe Rossi, a local makeup artist who worked on “The Fighter,” “Fever Pitch,” and the Boston pilot for ABC’s “Gilded Lilys.” Rossi told us he made a special wig for Walton, who spends the early part of the movie looking unshaven and scraggly. Rossi says it’s “sort of a Southie kind of look.” “The Makeover” will air early next year, right around Valentine’s Day.