A filmmaker was taking the blame after New York police officers were summoned to what they thought was an armed robbery, but turned out to be a location shoot for his upcoming movie.
The confrontation ended peacefully when officers ordered an actor playing a gunman to drop his weapon.
“I made the mistake,” Fred Carpenter said in a telephone interview. “I was supposed to tell the local police precinct what we were doing.”
Carpenter was filming inside convenience store in Bellmore, on Long Island, on Tuesday morning in a scene in which a gunman takes a number of people hostage. A passer-by apparently thought it was the real thing and called police.
“All of a sudden I’m directing and 15 police officers come in,” Carpenter said. “And for a moment I’m thinking it’s part of the movie and then I said, wait a minute, I wrote the movie and this wasn’t in the film. And it was like, insanity.”
Nobody was injured, but police said the outcome could have been tragic.
“The officer went inside, the actor — it turned out to be — still had the gun in his hand,” said Detective Mike Bitzko, a Nassau County police spokesman. He said responding officers “showed great restraint” disarming the situation.
Because he was filming on private property inside the store, officials and Carpenter said he was not required to obtain a county film permit, but Bitzko said police need to be notified about scenes involving gunplay.
Carpenter had praise for the police response and noted his film, “Jesse” is about a fictional Nassau County police detective named Jessica Weinstein who investigates the death of her brother. One of the film’s stars is Burt Young, best known for his role in “Rocky.” The actor who played the gunman was Mike Tattoo, Carpenter said.
“When you’re doing independent films, you’re working on budgets of a couple hundred grand or less,” he said. “We try to use as many private locations as possible. We were so close to the highway, I guess we didn’t realize that people would be looking in.”
He said he would reschedule the shoot and promised to contact police ahead of time.
“They’re there to protect us and something bad could have happened.”
Utah Leaders and Locals Rally To Keep Sundance Film Festival In The State
With the 2025 Sundance Film Festival underway, Utah leaders, locals and longtime attendees are making a final push — one that could include paying millions of dollars — to keep the world-renowned film festival as its directors consider uprooting.
Thousands of festivalgoers affixed bright yellow stickers to their winter coats that read "Keep Sundance in Utah" in a last-ditch effort to convince festival leadership and state officials to keep it in Park City, its home of 41 years.
Gov. Spencer Cox said previously that Utah would not throw as much money at the festival as other states hoping to lure it away. Now his office is urging the Legislature to carve out $3 million for Sundance in the state budget, weeks before the independent film festival is expected to pick a home for the next decade.
It could retain a small presence in picturesque Park City and center itself in nearby Salt Lake City, or move to another finalist — Cincinnati, Ohio, or Boulder, Colorado — beginning in 2027.
"Sundance is Utah, and Utah is Sundance. You can't really separate those two," Cox said. "This is your home, and we desperately hope it will be your home forever."
Last year's festival generated about $132 million for the state of Utah, according to Sundance's 2024 economic impact report.
Festival Director Eugene Hernandez told reporters last week that they had not made a final decision. An announcement is expected this year by early spring.
Colorado is trying to further sweeten its offer. The state is considering legislation giving up to $34 million in tax incentives to film festivals like Sundance through 2036 — on top of the $1.5 million in funds already approved to lure the Utah festival to its neighboring... Read More