BY MARGARET A. McGURK
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Gunshots cracked the chilly air on Vine Street again and again Wednesday morning. Again and again, the same bystanders fell to the sidewalk.
Someone yelled “Cut!” and the sprawled figures stood and waited for their next cue.
More than 100 people — cast, crew, extras, police, paramedics and spectators — converged Wednesday for the second day of location shooting for In Too Deep, a 1999 Miramax release based on the true story of a Boston undercover investigator.
Star Omar Epps — who also plays Linc in the upcoming film version of the Mod Squad — plays the detective whose pursuit of a notorious drug kingpin, played by LL Cool J, leads him into dangerous psychological waters.
Mr. Epps spent the morning riding up Vine Street in a Jeep and leaning out the window with a gun in his hand for a simulated drive-by shooting that took a full day to capture on film.
“I like Cincinnati,” said director Michael Rymer, gesturing toward historic Over-the-Rhine buildings. “As an Australian, I see it as the real America, as I imagine it was years ago. And that's exotic.”
The film company hired about 350 local extras, including many recruited from public housing complexes used during the four-day shoot. The bulk of the movie has already been shot in Toronto.
Casting coordinators Gwen Gordon of Madisonville and Yulanda White of Springdale, who worked with local casting director Linda Winter, said with only a week to find extras, they used creative methods.
For instance, said Ms. White, they visited Brandy's Lounge in Roselawn on karaoke night. “That's when all the hams are there,” said Ms. Gordon.
Executive Producer Don Carmody, who also brought The Mighty to the Tristate for a few days of shooting in 1997, said he was pleased at how easily he found some 90 local crew members for this project. He also cited cooperation of the Greater Cincinnati Northern Kentucky Film Commission and city agencies, including police and Cincinnati Metropolitan Housing Authority (CMHA).
CMHA Director Donald Troendle stopped by to watch the filming and talk about the scholarship fund to be launched with location fees of $10,000 paid to CMHA by the film company.
Mr. Troendle said an imminent “six-figure contribution” from a corporate donor will boost scholarship coffers, as will a benefit film premiere sometime next year. The fund, he said, will support post-secondary education for students from the 12,000 Hamilton County families served by the CMHA.
