Squeals and shouts of "We love you, Orlando!" rang out yesterday as filming of the movie Elizabethtown occupied Main Street here.

The shouts were directed to actor Orlando Bloom, who was behind the wheel of a gray Mercury sedan that went up and down Main Street for multiple takes.

Among the smitten and most vocal in their affection for the 27-year-old actor were Emily Frangedakis, 9, and sister Eleni, 11, who serenaded Bloom with adoration as he passed by in the car towed behind a camera truck.

The sisters were quick to accept a suggestion from their father to go see the movie shoot in downtown Versailles.

"Wow, this is unbelievable!" Emily said moments after catching a glimpse of Bloom.

Eleni concurred: "This is the best day of my life."

Blue skies and 80-degree temperatures translated into a good day of shooting yesterday for the movie directed by Cameron Crowe and starring Bloom, Kirsten Dunst and Susan Sarandon.

It was a productive day, too, for Tamara Semones. The drama teacher at Woodford County Middle School gleaned not only an autograph but a full-fledged note from Crowe, whose father was raised in Powell County.

Crowe wrote on a page of lined notebook paper: "To the great Tamara: What a pleasure to meet you. Best of luck in your drama teaching. ..."

"I'm going to frame it," Semones said.

Woodford Middle served as a parking area for tractor-trailers hauling movie equipment. School Principal Stephanie Koontz and counselor Patti Sebastian are paid extras in the film, and they met Bloom.

"He was very polite, a very nice young man," Sebastian said. "He set aside his lunch tray, put out his hand and said, 'Hi, I'm Orlando Bloom.'"

Koontz was taken by the voice of the Canterbury, England native: "He said, 'It's lovely to meet you,' and I was so drawn by his accent, I felt like I was mimicking him: 'It's lovely to meet you, too.'"

Others were not star-struck but put out that downtown was closed to traffic. Billy Wilson of Wilson's Pool Room said his lunch-time patronage was nothing like it normally is. He blamed the 6 a.m.-to-10 p.m. diversion of traffic away from downtown. Factory workers from south of town didn't come in, Wilson said, because the detour around the business district made it too inconvenient.

"If I can't get 'em lunch in 30 minutes, they're outta here," Wilson said.

But Mayor Fred Siegelman portrayed the movie production as an economic and public-relations bonanza that will reap rewards now and in the future.

"I would think most people would be honored to have a movie made here," said Siegelman. He also has a non-speaking role as a resident sprinkling a water hose on two mothers and their small children.

Woodford County has been the site for movie filming before. Parts of the 2000 movie Simpatico, with Nick Nolte and Sharon Stone, were shot in and around Midway in 1998. And scenes for 1965's The Great Race with Tony Curtis and Natalie Wood were shot near Duckers in northern Woodford.

But this was Versailles' moment in the spotlight, and Central Kentuckians made the most of it. Versailles residents Barbara Fulton and Carol Travi watched from the county courthouse to see what the hubbub was all about.

"I'm not a TV or movie buff, but I just enjoy the behind-the-scenes kind of thing," Travi said.

"And in our town," Fulton said.

Of course, in keeping with the movie's title, any hints of the names "Versailles" or "Woodford" were masked. The Woodford Sun became The News-Enterprise, the name of the daily paper in Elizabethtown. Woodford County High School became Central Hardin High School, an actual school in Elizabethtown. A sign that read "Whiskey served by the drink" was erected within sight of Versailles Baptist Church, but the Baptists turned the other cheek. The church served as a lunch room and staging area for the movie crew.

In Elizabethtown, according to an Internet site called www.theorlandobloomfiles.com, Bloom plays Drew Baylor, a young man who is fired from his job and dumped by his girlfriend. On the verge of suicide, Drew returns to his hometown of Elizabethtown to fulfill the last wishes of his deceased father. On the way home, he meets a flight attendant named Claire Colburn, played by Dunst. The two fall in love, and Baylor discovers a new reason for living.

In the scenes shot yesterday, Baylor arrives in town to find strangers -- friends of his father -- waving and greeting him and directing him to a funeral home, said extra Judi Egbert of Richmond. Shooting continues today in Versailles.

Also among the non-speaking extras in the movie was Earl Shaw, former chairman of the Garrard County school board. Looking dapper in a beige jacket and red, white and blue tie, Shaw was directed to stand on the Woodford County courthouse steps and wave to the passing car "driven" by Bloom.

In between takes, there was about a 15-minute wait, so Shaw stepped inside the courthouse.

"Hurry up and wait. I had plenty of this in the Army," Shaw said.

Welcome to HollyWoodford, Mr. Shaw.