| GREENSBORO
-- The movie's biggest stars didn't get there. Rocker Jon Bon Jovi, for one, was
performing in Florida. So local producers,
movie extras and the city itself shared the spotlight Friday night when "National
Lampoon's Pucked," filmed in the Triad in 2004, premiered at The Grande. "We
were eager to come here, because this area helped us put the film together,"
said Robert Bardunias of National Lampoon, which gave away movie T-shirts, hats,
posters and tickets with local media. The
lighthearted comedy also opened in Milwaukee and Minneapolis. Executive producer
L. Charles Grimes of Greensboro's SymPics International said he expects it to
open soon in other cities, and be released on home video and DVD by June. Only
a few people attended The Grande's first afternoon showing. But the theater was
nearly filled for the 8 p.m. show. Grimes
and his wife, Elizabeth, a movie co-producer, greeted local extras who came to
see they whether they had made the final cut. Local
actor Robert Harris already had heard that he appeared in a scene. "Oh, thank
God!" he said. Georgia Williams took
part in a country club scene. Her husband, Greensboro attorney Joe Williams, played
a juror. "I had to get in a movie to get on a jury," he joked. Greensboro
itself plays a prominent role. Local movie-goers
recognized downtown Greensboro, Starmount Country Club, Hagan-Stone Park, The
Ice House, courthouses in Greensboro and Lexington, and the Lawrence Joel Veterans
Memorial Coliseum in Winston-Salem. "I
was interested to see the sites around the city," said Joan Anderson of Greensboro,
who came to the first afternoon showing. Dixie
Lock and Key Service on Lewis Street became Buckinowski's Home Repair, the shop
owned by actor David Faustino's character. Faustino
(Bud on TV's "Married...With Children") plays best friend to Bon Jovi's
character, Frank Hopper. When Hopper --
former lawyer and likeable loser -- receives more than 200 pre-approved credit
cards in the mail, he finances his dream of starting the first all-female ice
hockey league. Naturally, he finds himself
skating on thin legal ice and drowning in debt. It
also stars Estella Warren ("Kangaroo Jack") as Bon Jovi's girlfriend;
Cary Elwes ("The Princess Bride") as the district attorney who prosecutes
him for credit card fraud; Nora Dunn ("Saturday Night Live") as his
sister; Jonathan Furr ("Two Soldiers") as his nephew; Dot Marie Jones
(Coach Kelly in Disney Channel's "Lizzie McGuire"), and Curtis Armstrong
("Revenge of the Nerds" I-IV) as a courthouse janitor. Originally
called "National Lampoon's The Trouble With Frank," then "Pre-Approved,"
the name changed when National Lampoon settled on "Pucked." Local
movie-goers also caught a trailer of another SymPics International movie filmed
last year in Greensboro: "Home of the Giants," the high school basketball
drama starring Haley Joel Osment. Now in
post-production, it should be in theaters this fall. Contact
Dawn
DeCwikiel-Kane at 373-5204 or dkane@news-record.com
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