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Crowe, crew film here


AP Photo

'Body of Lies' shot at St. Andrew's Church in Edgewater

By ANDREW CHILDERS Staff Writer
Published September 08, 2007
"Gladiator" star Russell Crowe came, saw and conquered Edgewater yesterday.

The Oscar winner descended on St. Andrew's United Methodist Church and Day School off of Route 2 to film scenes for his latest project, the terrorism thriller "Body of Lies."

The film, directed by Ridley Scott and slated for release next year, is based on the 2007 novel by Washington Post columnist David Ignatius. Star Leonardo DiCaprio plays CIA agent Roger Ferris, assigned to Jordan to hunt a shadowy terrorist named Suleiman, who's responsible for a string of bombings across Europe. As Ed Hoffman, Mr. Crowe is the head of CIA operations for the Middle East.

Mr. Crowe also stars in the remake of "3:10 to Yuma," which opened this weekend, but in his latest project he will be taking a detour to St. Andrew's to drop off his kid for school and make a quick phone call to Mr. DiCaprio.

But filming those scenes required almost 12 hours of preparation and a caravan of support people.

"I was very surprised to see how big of a production it was," said Leslie Redwine, acting principal.

Unobtrusive yellow signs directing crew members to the "BOL" shoot dotted Route 2, guiding a small army to the location where dozens of semis and panel vans were being unloaded yesterday morning in preparation for the day's filming.

Debbie Dorsey, a former location scout for Baltimore auteur John Waters and the television series "Homicide: Life on the Streets" who now works for the Baltimore Film Office, suggested the school where her two children attend.

"It was a nice collision of my two, my school and my business," she said.

Ernie Malick, a publicist for Warner Brothers, said Mr. Scott selected the site after a personal visit.

"The director liked the location of (the school), the circular driveway up to the school," he said.

While the school's 280 students had to accommodate the filming by missing out on outdoor physical education and some music classes, the children were also given a chance to meet the cast and learn a little bit more about the behind-the-scenes work of filmmaking.

"We always have a lot of exciting things happening, but this tops it," said Chris Burkhardt, president of the school's Parent Faculty Association. "I don't think (the students) know what goes into filmmaking."

Although the production filmed in Edgewater, don't look for any of the region's iconic structures on screen because the town is a stand-in for Northern Virginia. The Eastern Market neighborhood of Washington magically became Amsterdam and Baltimore pulled double duty as both Manchester, England and Munich, Germany.

"That's the magic of movies," Mr. Malick said.

After three weeks of filming in Maryland and Washington, shooting will move to Morocco for another nine weeks.

Though Maryland may not be getting any name recognition in "Body of Lies," filmmakers and television series such as "The Wire" have pumped $680.3 million into the state's economy since 2000, including $71 million in the fiscal year that ended June 30, state figures show.

"We've had some really huge years," said Karen Glenn, a spokesman for the state Department of Business and Economic Development, which includes the state's film office. "'Ladder 49' filmed (in Baltimore). They filmed the whole thing here, which we love."

Portions of the firefighter drama starring John Travolta and Joaquin Pheonix were filmed at the now-demolished Anne Arundel Medical Center in downtown Annapolis.

Recently "The Invasion," a remake of the 1956 film "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" released this summer starring Nicole Kidman, filmed in Baltimore. In 2002 the Chris Rock film "Head of State" substituted the Maryland State House for the White House, and an Annapolis schooner Woodwind II popped up in "Wedding Crashers" during filming on the Eastern Shore.