Embracing ‘Body Heat’ — March 5 screening celebrates Lake Worth Beach’s starring role in 1981 classic
Tickets still available for movie, panel discussion at Lake Worth Playhouse to benefit Historical Society of Lake Worth
“BODY HEAT,’’ the sultry movie classic filmed in Lake Worth Beach in late 1980, will be the guest of honor next week at a Hollywood-style celebration hosted by some local history buffs.
And you’re invited.
To observe the film’s 45th anniversary, the Historical Society of Lake Worth on March 5 will host a special screening at the Lake Worth Playhouse with a panel discussion featuring extras who were there when director Lawrence Kasdan transformed downtown L-Dub into the fictional town of “Miranda Beach.’’
There will be a gallery of then-and-now photos showing movie scenes on Lake Avenue in early December 1980 and those same locations today. Among the images: Actor William Hurt in front of the French restaurant L’Anjou, the location today of the restaurant Pomona — which will offer “Body Heat” drink specials before and after the event on March 5.
The panel discussion starts at 7 p.m., followed by the movie screening at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 at the door. Proceeds will benefit the historical society.
“Body Heat” was released on Aug 27, 1981. But the playhouse screening, nearly 45 years later, marks Lake Worth Beach’s first formal celebration of the movie in the town where most of it was filmed.
Organizers chose the event’s date, March 5, to coincide with tourist season.
“There’s no time like the present,’’ said co-organizer Wes Blackman, a longtime resident, urban planner and historic preservationist. “We are kind of billing it as the premier that never was in Lake Worth Beach.’’
“Body Heat’’ launched the career of Kathleen Turner, who starred as Matty Walker, a femme fatale who seduces cocky lawyer Ned Racine (Hurt) into killing her wealthy husband (Richard Crenna).
It also stars a pre-"Cheers” Ted Danson and Mickey Rourke.
It’s considered an erotic thriller and neo-noir masterpiece, remembered as much for its R-rated love scenes and memorable dialogue (“You’re not too smart, are you? I like that in a man”) as its many images of steamy South Florida (even though the film was shot in unseasonably cold South Florida weather).
Exterior scenes were also shot in two other Palm Beach County towns, Hypoluxo and Delray Beach, and at Hollywood Beach in Broward County. But Lake Worth Beach is the star.
When longtime locals watch it, they like to keep an eye out for familiar buildings and extras on Lake Avenue between Dixie Highway and J Street, the main downtown area where scenes were filmed.
“‘Body Heat’ is such a slice in time of Lake Worth and the area,’’ said Blackman. “That’s why I was attracted to it.’’
For Blackman, inspiration for the L-Dub “Body Heat” celebration came from visiting family in Madison, Illinois, where that Ohio River town has hosted celebrations of its role as the setting for the 1958 movie Some Came Running starring Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra and Shirley MacLaine.
“Many communities embrace films shot there as a way of connecting with their own history,’’ said Blackman, president of the non-profit Cottages of Lake Worth.
“In that sense, ‘Body Heat’ does that for Lake Worth Beach. It captured the city at a particular moment in time, and it gives us a chance to reflect on how much has changed and what has remained.’’
And the Lake Worth Playhouse is a fitting host for the 45th anniversary screening. It’s where casting director Bernie Styles set up camp in early November 1980 to photograph and take applications from would-be extras who lined up around the block — even though they had no idea what the movie was about.
From about 2,000 applicants, a few hundred were chosen. Each was paid $30 to $35 a day, mostly for numerous takes strolling down the sidewalk on Lake Avenue or making small-talk in the fictional Stella’s Diner — shot in a building occupied today by the law offices of Gonzalez & Cartwright at 813 Lucerne Avenue.
Former U.S. Congressman Mark Foley will participate in the panel discussion and talk about his role as an extra (yes, you can see him in one scene at Stella’s) — and why he rejected a chance for a larger role (not for Foley but for the restaurant he owned at that time, The Lettuce Patch.)
Lake Worth Beach was chosen as the movie’s primary setting only because of a Screen Actors Guild strike in the summer of 1980 that forced Kasdan scrap his original plan to film on the Jersey shore. With the production delayed until December, the director had to find a warmer climate to shoot a movie with a steamy summer setting.
“In 1980, Palm Beach County had just over 575,000 residents, and Lake Worth had about 27,000. It was a much smaller region, which makes it even more interesting that a major studio production chose our downtown as its backdrop,’’ Blackman said.
Society officers have reached out Kasdan with an invitation to participate, but have not received a response.
Society president Steve Lockwood and member Tom Johnson have helped Blackman organize the March 5 event, along with the Palm Beach County Film and Television Commission.
If all goes well on March 5, there’s a chance the “Body Heat” celebration could grow into an annual Lake Worth Beach event, similar to how Brownsville, Oregon, has hosted a Stand By Me Day since 2007 in honor of the 1986 coming-of-age film that was primarily shot in that town.
“Don’t rule it out,’ Blackman said.
