Environmentalists are giving the green light to a new Warner Bros. project that involves restoring a popular lake at an Illinois forest preserve.
WILLOW SPRINGS, Illinois — Environmentalists are giving the green light to a new Warner Bros. project that involves restoring a popular lake at an Illinois forest preserve.
Many scenes for the romantic drama "Il Mare," starring Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock, will be filmed at a glass-sided house built by Warner Bros. near Maple Lake, about 15 miles (25 kilometers) southwest of Chicago.
In addition to a $100,000 (euro77,700) shooting fee, Warner Bros. Pictures agreed to pay for much of the $40,000 (euro30,000) needed to stabilize the shoreline and pay for new wetland plantings that the Cook County Forest Preserve District already had planned.
"Everybody at the table said this is a cool project," said Doug Chien of the Sierra Club, referring to a meeting to inform several environmental groups.
Filming began last week and affects 300 feet (90 meters) of the lake's shoreline. The rest of the manmade lake remains open to anglers.
!ADVERTISEMENT!
The movie is scheduled for release in 2006 and will also include scenes in and around Chicago.
Source: Associated Press
