BY BROOKE CAIN - bcain@newsobserver.com
BY BROOKE CAIN The News and Observer
RALEIGH -- Downtown Raleigh went Hollywood on Wednesday as familiar spots became backdrops for scenes in a movie starring Academy Award winner Colin Firth.
Police blocked streets and sidewalks and kept crowds at bay as people gathered to glimpse Firth and co-stars Emily Blunt and Anne Heche.
Producers for "Arthur Newman, Golf Pro" were filming along Fayetteville Street in the morning and outside The News & Observer building on McDowell Street in the afternoon.
Several locals were engaged as extras, including the operator of a hot-dog cart for a scene in front of the First Citizens Bank on Fayetteville Street. In the film, the setting was supposed to be Orlando, Fla.
In the afternoon shot, Raleigh subbed for Terre Haute, Ind. The exterior of The N&O building, at 215 S. McDowell Street, was transformed into the Terre Haute Police Department's Central Precinct for the scene. The crew installed a new sign on the front of the building, added a police decal to the front door and parked a Terre Haute Police car out front.
Firth, who won the best actor Oscar this year for his starring role in "The King's Speech," was filmed with Blunt sitting at the entrance of Nash Square on McDowell Street. In another scene, Blunt walked out of the "police department" lobby and crossed McDowell Street to meet the waiting Firth. Heche filmed with Firth on Fayetteville Street but was not in the McDowell scenes.
"Arthur Newman, Golf Pro," directed by Dante Ariola, is described as a dark comedy about a man who is unhappy with his life and despised by his family. So he fakes his death and assumes a new identity in a new town. Blunt's character is also running from her past, and the two of them begin breaking into empty homes pretending to be the absent owners.
Firth fans far outnumbered Blunt and Heche fans throughout the day.
Connie Crumpler and Bethany Schuelke took half a vacation day from their jobs at Lawyers Mutual Insurance Co. in Cary to stake out a spot near the filming. Both are big fans of Firth's work as Mr. Darcy in the 1995 BBC miniseries "Pride and Prejudice," which has a cultlike following.
Tricia Keipper of Wake Forest is also a dedicated Darcy fan. "I have him photoshopped into a wedding picture," she said, producing a photo of her and her husband with Firth as Mr. Darcy in the middle.
"My husband thinks I'm crazy," she said.
Keipper got a chance to show the photo to Firth when he and Blunt rewarded patient fans with a picture and autograph session.
"Aren't I lucky?" he told Keipper upon seeing the photo. Keipper, a social worker for WakeMed, looked nearly in shock after her encounter with the star.
"Oh my gosh," she said, hand over her heart. "I'm the happiest girl in the world."
Firth also filmed the movie "Main Street" last year in Durham, but the movie was not considered a commercial or critical success.
"Arthur Newman, Golf Pro" will film scenes at the N.C. School of Science and Math in Durham today. Other North Carolina movie locations includeWilmington, Carolina Beach, Currie, Wallace, Fairmont, Lumberton and Graham.
