JOHANNESBURG (AP) — A movie starring Denzel Washington was a little too thrilling for a Cape Town neighborhood that has experienced gang violence.
Callers to talk radio Tuesday said they feared gang fights had returned to the township when they heard the sounds of automatic gunfire overnight.
Adam Merims and Genevieve Hofmyer, producers of the crime thriller “Safe House,” issued a statement apologizing “for any inconvenience or negative effect.”
Denis Lillie, head of the Cape Film Commission, said the producers had been authorized to film a sequence involving car chases and the firing of blanks, and had informed residents in the immediate neighborhood. But he said the sound carried further than expected.
“The economic benefits and the profile that it gives to Cape Town is … astounding,” Lillie said, saying occasional disruptions due to filming is “something that we’re going to have to get used to.”
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.