Hollywood Hits the Local Scene

Looking to find Connecticut in a movie, the newly released A New Wave will pique your interest. Shot in New Britain, Hartford, New Haven, and Waterbury, you will find local scenes.

A New Wave is crime film about a Hartford insurance worker turned bank robber by night. The director-writer of the film, Jason Carvey, and the producer, Bruce Seymour, are Connecticut natives. The film stars Andrew Keegan and John Krasinski (of The Office). Lacey Chabert of Mean Girls plays the lead female role. William Sadler (who you will see in Shawshank Redemption playing the role of the mean-spirited prison guard) is one of the bigger names in the film.

Carvey wrote the script in 2004 while working in the insurance industry. The movie is a mix of drama and comedy. Post-production took three years, with the director and editor working weekends to complete the project. Not a big budget film, it has its flaws, which the critics have already identified. Still, watch the film to catch the shots of familiar Connecticut locales.

The film is out in DVD this week and will be on video on demand soon, with a television release planned. Although you won't pay big bucks to watch the movie, its producers went into debt making it and hope to make a profit. They remain frustrated by bootleg copies downloadable off the Internet but intrigued the film has even generated that kind of response. Will the Internet, though, threaten the careers of filmmakers just starting out?

Indiana Jones flick shot in New Haven this summer.

With Connecticut granting a 30 percent tax credit to film companies, Hollywood producers are finding the state an attractive place to work. Just this summer, Steven Spielberg shot the fourth installment of the Indiana Jones series in New Haven. Starring Harrison Ford, Uma Thurman, and Leonardo DiCaprio, gawkers filled the streets. Familiar New Haven storefronts were torn down and turned into film sets. Locals and tourists from afar flocked to downtown New Haven to see the Indiana Jones movie in the making and catch a glimpse of Ford decked out for his classic role. This is not to say DiCarpio and Thurman did not draw crowds. Thanks to police security, onlookers did not see much, but area restaurants reported brisk business. The film is due out May 2008.

Have you seen a film shot on location? Do you know anyone who played a part in a movie or television production? If so, what did the person say of the experience? Do you plan to see the next Indiana Jones movie when it is released? How do you feel about the practice of bootlegging movies off the Internet?

Photos obtained from Internet Movie Database