Herald

 

TRAFFIC

 

Parts of I-95 may be closed for filming

 

Without forgetting the nightmare that happened when the MacArthur Causeway was closed for the filming of Bad Boys 2, local and state officials may issue a permit for closings of Interstate 95 for Miami Vice.

 

BY Admin LEBOWITZ

 

llebowitz@herald.com

 

Miami Vice, the movie, could spawn Miami Vise: The Massive Midnight Traffic Trap for anyone trying to drive on Interstate 95 through downtown for three consecutive nights in early July.

 

The Vice production company is ironing out the final details for a permit that will completely shut 4.5 miles of the southbound interstate between Interstate 395 and the Rickenbacker Causeway exit between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. on July 5-7. If the weather doesn't cooperate, film crews will work the following Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights.

 

If the permit is approved as expected, the filmmakers will be able to intermittently close the northbound lanes of I-95, but only between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m. to accommodate two low-flying helicopters that will be swooping over the roadway.

 

The big-budget production, starring Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx in the roles of Crocket and Tubbs, and directed by television series creator Michael Mann, starts principal shooting on June 27.

 

The filmmakers are working closely with a large contingent of state and local transportation as well as police and fire-rescue agencies to develop a comprehensive traffic-management plan to ease the pain for local drivers.

 

Nobody wanted a repeat of the July 2002 public-relations nightmare that ensued after officials shut down the MacArthur Causeway during four consecutive morning and evening rush hours to film an elaborate car-chase scene for the buddy-cop flick Bad Boys 2.

 

Downtown streets were snarled from 5 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Tempers flared on the streets and at city halls. One Miami Beach film office executive abruptly resigned in the wake of Bad Boys 2.

 

''We definitely don't want a duplication of that Bad Boys fiasco,'' said state Rep. Julio Robaina, who played a key behind-the-scenes role in securing the Interstate 95 permits for the Vice shoot.

 

I-95 traffic is markedly lighter during the early morning hours when the permit is valid.

 

The Vice production company will pay a large contingent of off-duty state troopers and police officers from Miami and Miami Beach anywhere from $25 to $40 per hour to make sure detouring traffic flows during the overnight filming, officials said.

 

Flashing roadside message boards and orange I-95 detour markers will be stationed all over downtown, said Jeannie Cann, a veteran Florida Department of Transportation official with extensive film industry permitting experience.

 

An employee in Cann's division, employing a strict interpretation of state law that restricts extracurricular uses of interstate highways like I-95, initially denied the Vice permit request in January.

 

Veteran Miami-based location scout Maria Kittyle Ch?vez, who worked on the original Vice TV seriesasked Robaina, a former Miami-Dade film commissioner, to intervene. After receiving guarantees that the filmmakers wanted to shoot only at night, Robaina said he called outgoing FDOT Secretary Jos? Abreu to see if something could be worked out.

 

''We don't want to forget: Michael Mann is dropping $100 million in this community,'' Robaina said. ``If they don't get permission to do it here, they would have gone somewhere else. That's a huge economic impact for this community.''

 

FDOT lawyers reexamined the statute and decided that if the proposed filming is safe, it meets the intent of the law, paving the way for further permit negotiations, Cann said.

 

''Miami Vice is being asked to take all of the community's concerns into account,'' Cann said.

 

Under the permit terms, the film company must place warning ads in several local newspapers and produce thousands of fliers that must be hand-delivered to residents and businesses on both sides of the interstate in the affected corridor.

 

Thousands of additional fliers will be handed out to commuters at Miami-Dade Expressway tollbooths.

 

Vice publicist Dave Fulton refused to confirm or deny any details for this story. But others familiar with the production said the company expects to be filming in greater Miami for two to three months before heading off to Uruguay and the Dominican Republic.

Come on, traffic at 4 am is nothing. This isn't anything compared to the Bad Boys shoot.

When I'm a big movie director, I'm gonna film movies in Orlando and screw up traffic like that. I bet it's fun as all hell.

should be TOO bad,,, my brother met will smith during the last movie filming... heh