Filmed locally, 'Still Green' comes out in Naples this weekend

Paul Costa as Brandon and Sarah Jones as Kerri in a scene from "Still Green." Graduating from high school is a milestone for every teen, but the eight friends who start out celebrating in the movie

Still Green" wind up facing another milestone, too — a much bigger, more difficult one: the death of a friend.

The grads are starting their comingof age summer in a rental house on the Gulf of Mexico, when an accident happens. "One of the kids ends up dying," says movie co-producer Doug Lloyd.

And they have to make a decision about what to do."

The film, which was shot in Naples and Bonita Springs and directed by Joe Artigo, has its Florida debut at the Pavilion 10 Cinemas in Naples June 19-25.

It was writer and co-producer Georgia Menides' idea to have "something dark happen in such a beautiful environment," Mr. Lloyd says. They had worked in Southwest Florida on the film "Freedom Park" (also directed by Mr. Artigo), which won awards at World Cinema Naples and the Marco Island Film Festival in 2004.

"We really came to love this area because it's so beautiful," Mr. Lloyd says. "We met a lot of great people down here who were really excited about movies in this area."

So instead of shooting "Still Green" in Massachusetts, as originally planned, they came here for five weeks in 2005. In order to stretch their money, they shot at the end of summer — which meant they had to deal with hurricane season.

"Hurricane Katrina came right around us in the middle of our shooting, so we had to deal with that a little bit," Mr. Lloyd says. "It changed the weather enough and the sea was crazy enough that it definitely messed with our shooting schedule."

They also had a camera stolen, along with the day's footage that had been shot on Fifth Avenue South in Naples. They later reshot the scenes in Charleston, S.C.

Familiar faces

Some local actors appear in the film.

Gricel Castiniera, who grew up in Naples and is in school in Orlando, auditioned and was cast as one of the ensemble actors.

Paul Costa, from Port St. Lucie, also attended an open call audition and was cast. He has since moved to Los Angeles where he has an agent and is continuing to act.

And though she doesn't have a major role, Fort Myers native Vonzell Solomon of "American Idol" fame also appears in the movie. She plays a small cameo as a record store clerk. "She was very excited that we were in town, so we wanted to fit her in somewhere," Mr. Lloyd says.

The rest of the ensemble consists of Sarah Jones ("Big Love," "The Riches," "Love Comes Softly"), Noah Segan ("Brick," "Cabin Fever II," "The Brothers Bloom"), Ryan Kelley ("Mean Creek," "Smallville," "Prayers for Bobby") and Douglas Spain ("Band of Brothers," "But I'm a Cheerleader").

Mr. Lloyd says the producers discovered there are pros and cons to using teen actors. A negative, he says, is that because they're all teens, they liked to party after hours. While they were on the set, "They were very, very professional actors," he adds. "But we still had to deal with the fact that they're very good-looking kids, and they were going to develop their own crushes."

So behind the scenes, life was imitating art, and the actors were behaving similarly to the characters on the screen.

The big benefit to using teen actors is that, "We were able to get some really tremendous actors… A lot of them, a few years down the line, are going to be able to demand a high salary. We were able to grab them before they got famous.

"We have a few that are on the verge, and I think within the next couple years you're going to be hearing from them."

The Naples engagement of "Still Green" is part of a limited theatrical tour. The film is also being shown in Worchester and Boston, Mass., and in Los Angeles.

It won Best Narrative Feature at the New England Film/Video Festival and Best Ensemble Cast at the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival. Boston film critic TC Kirkham called it the Best Film Not Yet Released.

The film was recently sold to Osiris Entertainment and should come out later this year on DVD, Blu-ray and On-Demand. It will also be part of the Naples International Film Festival in November.