Inside St. Pete Beach's Hollywood takeover for new Paul Rudd movie
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.

Megan Jones of Sarasota poses in a vintage costume for her role as an extra in "The Statement." Photo: Kathryn Varn/Axios
In the shell of a former Dollar Tree in St. Pete Beach, a slice of Hollywood hummed to life.
- Locals arrived in T-shirts and jeans and emerged from makeshift dressing rooms in vintage color-block rompers and A-line skirts. A table of seamstresses pinned and tucked, altering garments in real time.
- A producer fielding interviews with local journalists divulged that, yes, the Pauls will be in town for filming.
Why it matters: This was the scene Thursday at the pop-up headquarters for "The Statement," a new movie starring Paul Rudd, Paul Giamatti and John Turturro set to film next week at the Don CeSar.
- It's shaping up to be the biggest film shot in Tampa Bay since 2016's "The Infiltrator," starring Bryan Cranston.
The big picture: The film, directed by Tom McCarthy ("Spotlight"), is based on the book "Losing Earth" by Nathaniel Rich, producer Jonathan Schwartz told reporters Thursday.
- The Don plays a key role. The film centers on a 1980 conference at the Pink Palace that brought together scientists, government officials and activists to discuss an emerging concern: climate change.
What they're saying: During a visit to the hotel this week, Schwartz said he could see his colleagues "taking a minute and just looking around, going, 'I can't believe we're standing in the same place that this conference happened.'"
- "When you have that kind of energy around ... people start buzzing, and the creativity starts flowing."


Caveat: Filming will take place only outside the hotel, Schwartz said.
- A Hurricane Helene-induced renovation made the Don's interior too modern for 1980. Interior shots were filmed in New Orleans.
State of play: The production team was busy Thursday fitting extras recruited through an open call announced last month.
- FrontRunner Casting received more than 2,000 applications for 180 slots, Cassidy Worboys told Axios. So far, about 120 had been cast.
Zoom in: Among them was Adrianna Vargas, who heard about the casting call through her internship at Visit St. Pete-Clearwater.
- The visitor bureau's film commission has worked with the production team over the last year to sort out the local details.
- Vargas, 22, applied "for the plot," she said, although the chance of spotting Rudd or Evan Peters ("American Horror Story") is a nice perk.
Nearby, costume designer Melissa Toth ("Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind") sorted through the racks of plaid pants and tropical button-downs she got from rental houses and vintage dealers across the country.
- "We have to source from as many places as we can to get this volume of vintage garments that are in good shape," Toth said.

Yes, but: She saved one wardrobe necessity for Tampa Bay:
- "I said, "We're not gonna get flip-flops until we get to St. Pete. That's where the flip-flops will be.'"
