Movie director Jim Wynorski and his team started shooting a reality warping science fiction movie for television at locations in Jackson County this week. Filming began Wednesday at Florida Caverns State Park, one of three primary locations being used in “Sharkansas Women’s Prison Massacre.”
The plot of the movie goes like this: When some fuel-harvesting frackers crack the Earth’s surface, they unleash an underground and heretofore unknown ancient ocean that is home to some prehistoric sharks. The sharks come to the surface and become land sharks whose most heartfelt desire is to eat some people. Meanwhile, a group of female inmates are out and about fleeing their bondage after a prison break. They get trapped with the sharks in a swamp while they’re on the run. They find a house and take refuge there while they try to plan a route that will take them to a nearby cave system and, they hope, out of danger from the sharks and the law.
Alas….
That’s all one can say without throwing out a total spoiler. Except for this: Redemption is a theme in the plot.
Wynorski says the budget for the movie runs to about $1 million, an amount he decribes as moderate. The director has put together many monster movies in his time, but is not famous for shark movies. He hopes this one will air on the Syfy channel and become a big hit. It will take about a year to get the film broadcast-ready, he estimates.
According to current plans, footage will also be shot at Merritt’s Mill Pond and possibly Blue Springs, and about 45 seconds worth of the movie will be shot at Madison’s Restaurant. The home of Florida Caverns State Park Specialist Kelly Banta will be used in the movie. She lives in a house situated inside the park.
Madison’s is also catering some meals for the team on location, and the crew is staying at a local hotel for the roughly 2.5-week duration of this shoot.
Wynorski said his experience in Jackson County has been a most positive one so far, with park personnel escorting his team to every location there, and with Banta graciously agreeing to open her home to filming. Several other team members say they’ve also found the people warm and inviting, the atmosphere charming, and the abundance of natural resources refreshing.
For Banta, the opportunity to be involved in the film was golden. Before she started working as a media/public relations specialist at the park, she worked at Universal Studios in the special effects department and has been interested in movie-making since childhood. She studied the art in college, which she started as a child prodigy while still a very young teenager.
OnWednesday, she and Park Administrator Chris Hawthorne escorted the team around.
Hawthorne said Wynorski and his crew members have been very respectful of the rules as they go about their work, following all the guidelines they need to make sure they leave the place the way they found it.
The filming won’t interrupt any park services normally offered to visitors, Hawthorne said. All shooting in the caves work around the normal public tour schedule, and all work in the park itself is done with a park escort standing by.
Banta is more than happy to help fulfill that duty. She watched Wednesday as fog machines were put in place, activated, moved and activated again. She listened as Wynorski yelled out orders on a sometimes frustrating hunt for just the right spot to shoot. She observed as one of the female leads, actor Dominique Swain in the role of “Honey,” aimed a big shiny gun at some evil pursuer as she ran through the woods. Banta took a picture as a “police officer, ” actor Serafin Falcon, slashed his way through a thick fog, both pursuing and being pursued. She took mental notes as the fog machine was moved here and there and commented, almost to herself, that the machine needed to be in a certain spot because of the wind direction.
She appeared to be right in her element.
Banta said she’s excited about the movie being made here, and isn’t concerned about those who might scoff at the picture and dare to call it a “B-Movie.” She sees the potential it has to put Jackson County on the map. The name of the community will roll in the credits, its natural wonders will be showcased all through the movie, and she figures it will bring a fair amount of movie-buff tourists to the area. And it very well might get the attention of other filmmakers looking for fresh places to go. Banta said she’s always seen the potential for Jackson County to be a special jewel in the bag of locations that movie-makers consider. She can’t wait for the crew to get started at her place. It’ll be one more learning experience she can put in her life-and-career file.
