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Shootin' The Breeze
10.30.06
Did you know about the body thrown in Mullet Creek from the
old bridge on Safety Harbor's North Bayshore Drive? Or maybe you heard about
the gun battle behind Captain's Pizza on Main Street.
Perhaps you even suspected the FBI had moved agents into the Safety Harbor
Chamber of Commerce offices.
Not to mention the car that flew into the Safety Harbor
Marina with three people inside or the mobsters that were meeting at the Safety
Harbor Resort and Spa.
All that and more is part of "Real Premonition," a
movie with an international cast that was shot locally and in Morocco
during 2005. Cast, crew, local extras and friends were invited to a private
screening on Sunday, Oct. 29 at Tampa¹s Channelside Cinemas.
The film is not likely to get Roger Ebert out of his sick
bed for a review, but it received a standing ovation from the crowd that viewed
it with host Ziad Ahmed, writer, director and lead actor in the production,
which featured a number of members of the Florida Motion Picture and Television
Association (FMPTA) and a handful of extras from Safety Harbor.
The first shot in the film is a night view of Tampa's
downtown from the water. It quickly moves to Morocco
where it begins the story of a young Moroccan man (Samir, or "Sam,"
played by Ben Affan) who dreams of going to America.
Upon arrival, he is drawn into a struggle between two warring gangster families
who are being targeted by the FBI. Billed as an action-drama, the film
frequently ventures into near slapstick with improbable gunfights and much
implied mayhem such as a mob execution by chainsaw.
The fun for any local viewer will be picking out all the
location shots in our backyard. Despite the opening shot of Tampa,
which was reminiscent of the opening shots of 2004's "The Punisher,"
the film's U.S.
locations were primarily in Pinellas County.
Fort DeSoto,
the St. Petersburg Pier and the Sunshine Skyway were easily recognizable. Safety
Harbor residents will spot the back
door and interiors of the former Green Springs Café, the back staircase and
interiors of Captain's Italian Restaurant and Pizzeria, "History
Hall" at the spa and interiors of the Chamber of Commerce offices. The
bridge on North Bayshore and the marina are easy to spot
if you know the locations, but movie magic blends them into a fictional Florida
landscape.
One of the unintentionally funny lines for local residents
occurs when the main characters make a "swim for it" from the Safety
Harbor Marina to the "island," which actually was in Fort
DeSoto Park
at the other end of the Pinellas peninsula. Thanks to movie magic, the marina
waters also were deep enough for a headfirst dive without a broken neck.
Safety Harbor
resident John Duffy is the only local extra with a speaking part, which is cut
short by a baseball bat before he can fire the pistol he is shakily pointing at
one of the mobsters. Safety Harbor
residents Barbara Duffy and Roger Inman also appear in a cafe scene, although
Barbara warns, "Don’t blink or you¹ll miss me!"
Another fun exercise for local film buffs will be picking
out the characters who also starred in a previous FMPTA production that was
primarily filmed in Safety Harbor,
"Granny Goes Wild." The 2004 release, which screened locally at the
Cinema Café at U.S. 19 and Sunset Point Road,
featured FMPTA members Ray Nelson, Sheri Lawrence and Jack Amos. Nanette Fenton
also appears in "Real Premonition" as the elderly victim of a
carjacking in a sly reprise of her role as "Granny." Our premonition
is that, with the assistance of the FMPTA, Safety
Harbor will provide a backdrop for
many more films.
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