Crew to shoot Mel Gibson film in area
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NORTHAMPTON - A crew shooting Mel Gibson's next film is expected to descend on the Pioneer Valley this fall, working locations in downtown Northampton and on Mount Sugarloaf in South Deerfield.
Due for release next year, "Edge of Darkness" will be the first big screen appearance for Gibson since 2002. The Hollywood actor and director has kept a low profile since a drunken driving arrest in 2006, during which he acknowledges he made anti-Semitic remarks.
Work on the new film will begin in Boston in August, according to Blaise J. Noto, a publicist for the production company GK Films.
Noto confirmed the producers are considering shooting locations in Northampton, but haven't made definite plans.
Northampton Police Capt. Joseph W. Koncas said he was contacted last month by the producers of the film. Details aren't firm, he said, but city police officers will likely be called on sometime in the fall to provide traffic and crowd control during filming.
A person answering the phone at the Mount Sugarloaf State Reservation said the park would be closed to the public Oct. 1-3 and 6 for more "Edge of Darkness" filming. He referred further questions to a supervisor who could not be reached Wednesday.
Hampshire Superior Court Clerk Magistrate Harry Jekanowski Jr. said he's met twice with filmmakers about their using the old courthouse on Main Street in Northampton. The filmmakers haven't committed, though, and the space may not be available depending on the court's schedule, he said.
"There have been certainly some very interested initial inquiries," Jekanowski said. "They're enthralled with the exterior of the old courthouse and the dual staircases coming down inside."
The historic portion of the courthouse complex has captivated independent filmmakers before. Last year the courtroom stood in for the Oval Office in a shoot for Sonia Arrubla's children's film "Bubble Trubble," due out next month. Jekanowski said a few film crews have used the space in recent years, all for free.
Koncas said he didn't know if Gibson himself would be in town for the filming. The proposed downtown filming locations - which Koncas declined to name - relate to the Gibson character's daughter, he said.
One of the producers involved with "Edge of Darkness" also had a hand in "The Cider House Rules," much of which was filmed at the former Northampton State Hospital in 1998.
"He was involved with 'Cider House Rules' and he liked Northampton," Koncas said.
In the new film, Gibson plays a Boston police officer investigating the suspicious death of his activist daughter, according to a report in Variety, a trade newspaper.
It is based on a 1985 British Broadcasting Co. miniseries of which Gibson is reportedly a fan. The six-episode political thriller follows Yorkshire Police Inspector Ronald Craven as he unearths "an international conspiracy involving environmental terrorism, plutonium and the Knights of St. John," according to a BBC Web site.
Earlier movies
"Edge of Darkness" will be at least the fifth Hollywood production to use Northampton as a backdrop. Past features that shot scenes here include "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" in 1966, "Malice" in 1993 and "In Dreams" in 1999.
The film is to be directed by New Zealander Martin Campbell, who directed the 1985 British miniseries on which the film is based, as well as 2006's James Bond revival, "Casino Royale."
The script is by William Monahan, a former Easthampton resident who wrote the Martin Scorsese blockbuster "The Departed" and is the author of the comic novel "Light House," which is set in New England.
Producers include Graham King, BBC Films and Michael Wearing, according to Variety.
James F. Lowe can be reached at jlowe@gazettenet.com.
