N.C. film news involves 'Caged Heat' (code name for 'Iron Man 3')

There's a flurry of North Carolina-related motion picture news of late. First was the report that Greg Kinnear and Jennifer Connelly will begin work in Wilmington next month.

Producer Judy Cairo confirmed Friday afternoon reports from national entertainment publications Variety and The Hollywood Reporter that the independent film "Writers" is on its way to the area.

"We'll be filming in Wilmington in March, primarily around Wrightsville Beach," Cairo said. "Greg Kinnear plays a famous novelist who lives in a beach community, thus the attraction of shooting in Wilmington. Jennifer Connelly plays his ex-wife, with whom he's obsessed."

The Wilmington Regional Film Commission's website, according to the Star-News, now lists "The Occult" and "Heart of the Country" in preproduction, along with "The Conjuring" and "Caged Heat," which is widely known as the code name for "Iron Man 3."

Johnny Griffin, director of the film commission, said both new movies are feature films and "here and in the process of getting organized" for production. He said he was unable to disclose additional details.

According to the website for "Heart of the Country," produced by Bayridge Films, the movie's principal photography is tentatively slated for March and April in Wilmington and New York City. It's based on the novel by Rene Gutteridge and John Ward and is a modern retelling of "The Prodigal" story.

No further information on "The Occult" was available Tuesday morning.

And, finally, Mike Wiley is getting rave reviews as he performs ALL 36 ROLES in the feature film, "Dar He: The Lynching of Emmett Till," according to a press release. A N.C. screening is set for Feb. 13.

Wiley and the North Carolina filmmakers deliver riveting performances in the story, trial, and unbelievable confessions of those accused of Emmett Till's murder in this 1955 tragedy which changed the course of history in the United States.

Two and a half years in the making by award winning North Carolina filmmakers, the World and European premieres are now set for "Dar He". A screening for North Carolina media has been added to the calendar. ...

"Dar He: The Lynching of Emmett Till" was adapted from the critically acclaimed one man show written and performed by local theatre heavyweight, Mike Wiley, similarly titled "Dar He: The Story of Emmett Till." It is a true-crime drama of a 14-year old Black boy from Chicago murdered for allegedly whistling at a White woman while visiting family in Money, Mississippi in 1955. The screenplay was crafted from public record and the historic interviews conducted by William Bradford Huie of Look magazine. When the story was published, it became a lightning rod across the nation for moral outrage. "His death was a spark that ignited the Civil Rights Movement in America," Ed Bradley, Emmy Award-winning journalist.

"Dar He" was created by acclaimed North Carolina filmmakers who collaborated on other films including, "Empty Space" (2009) and "Wolf Call" (2010). These films are winners of fifteen festival awards, eight nominations, dozens of official selections, special screenings, and other honors. "Wolf Call" is currently on festival tour and nominated for a Black Reel Award for Outstanding Short Film. The international success of both these films helped inspire the making of "Dar He". Mr. Wiley is winner of numerous best actor awards from 2009 to 2011 for his performance in both films, including Best Actor at the 25th Black International Cinema Berlin and Best Actor at the Carrboro Film Festival in 2009 and 2010.

Nothing to fear along N.C. coast

From the Toronto Sun:

Cape Fear. The mere name conjures images of shipwrecks, churning seas and plundering pirates. Indeed, this rugged coastal region of the United States delivers all three, plus more -- an ideal playground for vacationing families.

Located about one hour north of the hustle and kitsch of Myrtle Beach, S.C., North Carolina's Cape Fear coast offers a quieter version of wide beaches and pounding Atlantic surf, paired with an eclectic history of sunken ships, smugglers and genteel southern charm.

Early settlers named the coast for the havoc it wreaked on approaching ships. Shifting sand shoals made it tricky for merchant vessels to navigate the Cape Fear River, which snakes inland from the Atlantic to Wilmington (once a major trading centre), striking fear in the hearts of captains and crews. Pirates in shallow-draft boats took advantage of the wrecks, plundering the ships and selling the pilfered goods in street markets.

One of Cape Fear's most feared pirates was the infamous Stede Bonnet, known as The Gentleman Pirate because of his vast collection of books aboard his pirate ship. Bonnet was hanged for his crimes in 1718, but not before escaping prison at least once dressed as a woman!

'Uncle Walter' was a fan of Wrightsville

The late, great Walter Cronkite became quite the fan of Wrightsville Beach and Wilmington through the years, thanks to twice-a-year sailing trips along the Eastern Seaboard, according to the Star-News.

Cronkite, who died Friday at age 92, docked his sailboat at Seapath Yacht Club in Wrightsville Beach while sailing south in the fall to Florida or the Virgin Islands and while returning north to his summer home at Martha’s Vineyard, said Maria Mann, a captain and friend of Cronkite’s.

“He just liked Wrightsville Beach,” Mann said. “In Martha’s Vineyard, he could walk around and people wouldn’t bother him. In Wrightsville Beach, it was sort of the same way. He could be like a regular person, and he enjoyed that aspect of it very much.”

Mann, 64, of Wilmington, was captain of Cronkite’s boat from 1980 to 1981, and she continued sailing with Cronkite and his family each year until 1999. She attended Cronkite’s wife’s funeral in 2005 and said she last spoke with him on the phone about two years ago.

His boat would sometimes stay docked at Seapath for weeks while Cronkite traveled or worked, but he would often fly in to stay on the boat even when he wasn’t sailing on it, Mann said.

He enjoyed walking the Seapath docks and talking to people about boats, she said. “He loved talking to other fellow sailors.”

Cronkite’s connections to Wrightsville Beach didn’t just involve docking at the marina. Several of his captains, mostly referred by Mann, were from the area, and Cronkite also bought a yacht from local builder Sunward Yachts.

Quick hits: Bad news for SE N.C./NE S.C.

Tourism drops at N.C. beaches
"It appears there were fewer visitors to beaches in southeastern North Carolina this year," according to published reports.

"The Star-News of Wilmington reported that many operators in New Hanover and Brunswick counties reported fewer visitors and less spending than last year. ...

"In New Hanover, the room occupancy tax collected in the first six months of 2008 was slightly lower than the same time last year.

"In Brunswick County, there was a slight increase for the first six months of the year, although June collections were down 7 percent. ..."

Hard Rock Park owner files Chapter 11
"Hard Rock Park has closed for the year after losing a whole lotta money," according to the Star-News.

"The owner of the Myrtle Beach amusement park filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Wednesday, ending an inaugural season that fell far below projections for the 55-acre, $400 million rock ’n’ roll attraction. When it opened in April, park officials planned to stay open through what it called 'rocktoberfest' and even have some programs during the Christmas season. ..."

The 'Dawson's Creek' effect

I'll fess up: I watched "Dawson's Creek."

Apparently, I wasn't alone. During it's run, the show about four angst- and hormone-filled youths from Capeside, Massachusetts, became the WB's signature TV show. And though the show's been off the air for several years now, fans still descend on Wilmington, N.C., the place where the show was actually filmed.

"I call it the 'Dawson's Creek' phenomenon," Connie Nelson of the Cape Fear Convention Center and Visitors Bureau told the Wilmington Star-News.

Over spring break in 1999, "we got hundreds of calls from people who wanted to know where Mollye's Market was, where Dawson's house was," she said. The visitors bureau soon published a Frequently Asked Questions sheet for the show. "We still put it out and people still pick it up," Nelson said.
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Among the locations made famous:
— Hell's Kitchen, 118 Princess St.
— Water Street Restaurant, 5 S. Water St.
No "Dawson's Creek" pilgrimage is complete without a stop by the fish house Dawson's family owned, Leery's Fresh Fish. The building still looks just like it did when all the characters stopped by for a bite to eat after their high school classes. Water Street Restaurant can be spotted often through the show's early seasons.
— University of North Carolina Wilmington, 601 S. College Road
— Hewlett's Creek
So where, exactly is Dawson's Creek? Well, there's no such place. All those beautiful sunset shots of Dawson standing on his dock among the marsh grass were actually filmed along Hewlett's Creek, best viewed from Pine Grove Road between Masonboro Loop Road and Holly Tree Drive. Dawson's house was an actual private residence along the water. But it's not open for tours.
— Dockside Restaurant, 1308 Airlie Road, Wrightsville Beach
When Dawson and friends go to The Icehouse for a few beers, they are sitting inside a downtown bar called The Icehouse. But when the cameras pan from the bar to the outside where blue water sparkles and boats pass, you're actually looking at a view from Dockside Restaurant at Wrightsville Beach. The water is the Intracoastal Waterway.
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