'Dolphin's Tale' wraps: cast, crew depart happy
By WALT BELCHER | The Tampa Tribune
Winter, the cute bottle-nosed dolphin with a prosthetic tail, already knows she is a star, says the director of the Clearwater Marine Aquarium.
And the rest of the world will know when "A Dolphin's Tale" hits movie theaters next year, says Aquarium CEO David Yates. Filming on the 3-D family film should wrap up on schedule Wednesday after three months of work in the Clearwater area.
The cast and crew will pack up and move on while the film goes into post-production for an October 2011 release, according to a film company spokesman.
"Everything went so smoothly - the weather was great, we had a good crew and the local community welcomed us," said Steven P. Wegner, one of the executive producers.
The film is being shot in 3-D; both Wegner and Yates gush about the underwater scenes with Winter. Wegner says even the cold, windy conditions on Monday were perfect because one of the scenes called for stormy weather.
The film features Harry Connick Jr., who plays the director of a Clearwater aquarium that rescues and rehabs the tailless Winter.
Connick says the set had "good chemistry.''
"People say I'm a prankster, but I just like to have fun on the set," he said. "But this has been the most laid-back experience for me. The story is so uplifting and the dolphin makes us feel like it's worthwhile."
The film also stars Ashley Judd as the mother of 12-year-old Sawyer (Nathan Gamble) who befriends the dolphin, and Morgan Freeman as a Veteran's Administration doctor who develops a prosthetic tail for Winter.
Gamble, from Tacoma, Wash., who has been acting since 2006, has appeared in numerous TV series ("Ghost Whisperer" "Private Practice") and movies ("Marley and Me," "The Dark Knight').
He says he had to take intensive swimming lessons for his underwater scenes with Winter. "She is great and so easy to work with," he says. "We quickly developed a bond."
Also in the cast are Kris Kristofferson, Frances Sternhagen, Austin Stowell ("Secret Life of an American Teenager") and newcomer Cozi Zuehlsdorff, who plays Sawyer's close friend.
Stowell plays a young injured veteran from the Iraqi war who is inspired by Winter's ability to overcome a handicap.
Connick and the child actors stayed in the area for most of the three-month production schedule. Judd flew in and out. Freeman was on the set for about two weeks and Kristofferson for 10 days. Out-of-town cast and crew stayed at various Clearwater Beach hotels.
The production, by Hollywood-based Alcorn Entertainment, also employed numerous Florida based actors and crew, with some coming in from Miami and Orlando. More than 200 were involved in the production.
"It was a tremendous learning experience," says Kelsey Stroop, a recent graduate of the University of Tampa's film program who landed a job as assistant to director Charles Martin Smith. Stroop says she was able to be involved in every aspect of film-making.
Alcorn has not released a budget for the film, but the project pumped money into the economy for everything from catering the cast and crew to the building of sets and props. One Dover firm, for example, was paid more than $14,000 to make several large artificial sharks, a large turtle and a mailbox shaped like a manatee.
Much of the story was filmed at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium and there was a large set (the interior of a home with a garage) that was built in the vacant Harborview Center in downtown Clearwater.
Filming also took place at the pool of a private home on Betty Street in Clearwater, the Long Center recreation complex, a Pinellas County school and a cul de sac in Oldsmar.
"It was exciting to have this movie being filmed on our street for a couple of days; the whole neighborhood turned out," says professional photographer Mike Nahat, who lives next door to the home picked for the film.
wbelcher@tampatrib.com
813-259-7654
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