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Another Los Angeles in 'Gardener'

02.06.10

In less than an hour, Mr. Weitz’s peel crew had to contend with a crowing rooster, barking dogs, a musical ice cream goods, two helicopters and, just around the corner, eight police cruisers that showed up with a probation officer to cuff and rub out a burly resident. None of it was in the script.

So it goes with “The Gardener,” a small picture that has the tall, very dark-eyed Mr. Weitz — who talked of leaving the movie topic after an unhappy experience with New Line Cinema’s high-budget flop “The Blissful Compass” — looking downright chipper these days.

Not that he doesn’t still mumble about quitting.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if this was the last movie I ever made,” Mr. Weitz insisted, as his 23rd day of shooting on locations in and around Los Angeles got under way last Thursday. “It’s all I have to say, for the instant.”

“The Gardener” is extraordinary, partly because it is being shot here at all. As tax credits lured production to states like Michigan and Louisiana, spotlight-film location shooting days in Los Angeles fell to 929 in the first quarter of 2010, down 61 percent (from 2,386) from the first lodge of 2008, according to FilmL.A., which monitors filming in the area.

Source: New York Times