'Passionada'

"That's a wrap, people!"

(Published on July 22, 2001)

By Robert Lovinger, Standard-Times staff writer

Photography by Jack Iddon, Standard-Times chief photographer

(click on each photo to view caption)

As filming ends, search for a distributor about to begin. The filming of "Passionada" is almost history. Only two months ago, the producers were struggling toward a title -- "Passionado," "Apaixonado," "Passionata." David O'Hara had the lead male role of Charles Beck, and Sofia Milos was playing Sally Amonte. Now, the movie is called "Passionada," Jason Isaacs plays Beck, and Sally's name has been changed to Celia. And sometime this week, the cameras will stop rolling. Director Dan Ireland will lower the curtain after getting a final shot of New Bedford from a helicopter. The first feature film shot here since "Down to the Sea in Ships" in 1922, the $6 million romantic comedy tells a tale of loss and love. It revolves around a family of New Bedford Portuguese women and the arrival in their lives of a down-and-out British gambler. Now, the post-production -- editing, musical scoring, the search for a distributor -- will begin. When will it hit the big screen? It should be finished in time to appear at film festivals next winter or spring. A wider distribution might not come until this time next year. It's also possible that "Passionada" could go straight to video, or, in fact, never be released. Locals have been asking whether "Passionada" might have its world premiere here. The answer is: Maybe. "I would love to help make that happen," said executive producer Jim Jermanok, sipping a coffee earlier this week at a table outside FoodWorks, just down Purchase Street from the production's offices. But the question of where it premieres hinges on several factors, the most prominent being which company buys the movie and what its distribution strategy is.

The men and women of "Passionada" arrived in New Bedford in early May and began shooting May 21. They planned to wrap on June 30, in time to avoid a threatened actors strike. Instead, the labor dispute was settled. And when Mr. Ireland was forced to replace Mr. O'Hara with Mr. Isaacs, that meant having to reshoot a number of scenes. Suddenly, the production was stretching well into July. The extension was a blessing, in part, because it gave the filmmakers a chance to make up for what had been an unusually rushed pre-production period. During the nine weeks of filming, cast and crew rushed back and forth to dozens of locations in the city, Fairhaven, Dartmouth and beyond. On occasion, the huge caravan of trucks and personnel had to set up at multiple sites on the same day. They shot in the national park, at the waterfront and on Buzzards Bay; at restaurants, homes and shops; in a factory, nightclub, hospital, school building, festival, church, hotel, cemetery and more. Here from California, New York, Boston and elsewhere, the moviemakers got to know a bit about a place they'd never been before. Conversely, New Bedford saw itself for a time in a different light: as a place worthy of a story to be shared with the rest of the world. "We're very, very grateful to the city. People have been incredibly supportive," Mr. Jermanok said. "I've talked to a lot of seasoned pros on this shoot -- people who run to six locations in a year -- and they say this is the most pleasant shoot they've ever worked on," he said. "I had no idea how beautiful this area was," said Mr. Jermanok, a Schenectady native who lives in New York City. "Unfortunately, it gets a lot of bad publicity in Boston. They treat it like a stepchild." As he spoke, Boston-based costume design chief Rudy Dillon walked by FoodWorks and chimed in, "I'm going to kind of miss this little town." "People here are so friendly, so kind. I feel like I'm in Iowa sometimes," Mr. Jermanok said. "There's a high quality of life. People say hello to each other and go out of their way for each other. I was impressed by the sense of community. "And I like the New England aspects: the beautiful beach scenes, the lighthouses, the incredible seafood," he continued. "People in New York told me, 'You're gonna be bored.' I was never bored. There are things happening here all the time."

The filmmakers began this final, full week of shooting on Monday with a sailing scene on the bay. Cast and crew then headed to the Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut for three days of gambling scenes -- the first time the casino has granted permission for a feature-film shoot, according to Mr. Jermanok. On Friday, they were admitted to St. Anne's Hospital in Fall River for a couple of scenes. Originally, filmmakers hoped to use St. Luke's in New Bedford, but it didn't work out. Yesterday, Mr. Ireland and director of photography Claudio Rocha were set to begin what could be a couple of days of last-minute shoots at several locations. The helicopter footage is scheduled to cap things off. This afternoon, cast and crew are set to celebrate with a "wrap party" in Mattapoisett. It will take a week or so to tie up clerical and other details and for the production's Purchase Street offices to be cleaned out and buttoned up. After working 18 hours a day for a month longer than expected, the movie folks can't wait to get home. "The minute the production shuts down, they'll be sprinting home," Mr. Jermanok said this week. In a couple of weeks, perhaps sooner, Mr. Ireland and editor Luis Colina will walk into an editing room in Los Angeles and begin sculpting "Passionada" out of the footage that's been shot. Mr. Colina edited Mr. Ireland's "The Whole Wide World" and worked as an assistant or associate editor on "The Color of Night," "The Scarlet Letter" and "Godfather III." Meanwhile, composer Harry Gregson-Williams is reportedly already at work on the score for "Passionada." Mr. Gregson-Williams composed the music for such recent films as "Shrek," "Spy Kids," "Chicken Run" and "Enemy of the State." Eventually, "Passionada" will need a home -- a major studio or independent company that will buy it, promote it, make prints, and ship them to theaters. The purchase could happen at any point along the way. "There is no 'typical' way that this happens," Mr. Jermanok said. "Sometimes they come to you; sometimes you go to them." The half-dozen or so independent companies likely to buy a "Passionada" already are aware of it, he noted. The producers' ideal scenario is for the movie to screen at a prominent festival such as Sundance or Cannes and for a flock of distributors to get interested at the same time, thereby driving up the film's price. Mr. Jermanok wrote the "Passionada" screenplay with his brother, Steve. "Our biggest concern was making something that everyone could be proud of; a quality movie that has a heart," he said, praising his colleagues on the shoot. "Everyone has great hopes for the film."

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