Several films have been shot in Rockport in recent years because the quaint downtown has a quintessential New England charm that Hollywood seems to love.

But Selectman Paul Murphy says watching the cast and crew of “Chappaquiddick’’ shoot a scene outside the Rockport Public Library the other day was different.

“It was kind of personal for me,’’ he said.

That’s because Murphy’s late father, Jeremiah V. Murphy, was a reporter at the Globe in 1969 and covered the tragic story that’s the focus of the film. He was on Martha’s Vineyard in the hours after Senator Ted Kennedy drove his car off a bridge there, killing Mary Jo Kopechne. He was also at the Pennsylvania funeral home when Kennedy, looking stricken, gathered in a room alone with Kopechne’s parents.

“I was a young kid, about 4 or 5 years old, when that happened,’’ says Murphy, an assistant principal at Manchester Essex Regional High School.

The movie, starring Aussie actor Jason Clarke as Kennedy, Bruce Dern as Joseph Kennedy, Kate Mara as Kopechne, and Ed Helms as Kennedy cousin Joe Gargan, filmed in a few locations around Rockport, including the library and on Main Street. (The cast and crew were in Newburyport Tuesday.) For the most part, Murphy said, everyone was OK with the inconvenience.

“In my opinion, it’s a good thing. It helps with the economy, there’s police overtime, and the film company spends money in the hardware store and in local restaurants,’’ said Murphy. “One downside: Shopkeepers are justifiably irritated with the trucks and the traffic, but the movie company tries to go as quickly as it can.’’

“Chappaquiddick,’’ directed by John Curran, is being shot on the North Shore in part because producers didn’t get a green light from town officials in Edgartown.