Can Orlando Double as Miami?

via Blavish

Can Orlando, home of Mickey Mouse et al., successfully double as Miami? The makers of Just Another Day think so. The film stars Jamie Hector and Wood Harris (both of The Wire) and follows a day in the life of a rising rap star and a veteran rhymer as they go through a hyper-paced day in Miami. Except the film is being shot in downtown Orlando.

Director Peter Spirer, a University of Miami film  school grad whose first documentary, Blood Ties: The Life and Work of Sally Mann, was nominated for an Academy Award, thinks Orlando has enough street cred.

"We stage a shooting scene in Parramore, and this person comes up and yells, 'Somebody got shot!' I'm thinking he heard our filming. But then he points in the other direction. Somebody had been shot," Spirer told the Orlando Sentinel's Roger Moore.

But there's a practical reason for choosing Orlando: The film is a coproduction with Valencia Community College. The school's ambitious film program has in the past also given students the chance to work with other notable directors such as Robert Wise and George Romero.