Santa to make a cameo in Port as filming of movie resumes

Don’t be surprised to see Santa Claus in downtown Port Washington in the coming weeks.

The Common Council on Tuesday approved an event permit that will allow filmmaker Miles O’Neil to shoot the final scene of  “Intoxicated Rain,” an independent movie set in Port Washington and Milwaukee.

That scene, which shows the finale of the Port Christmas parade with Santa on the last float, will be shot on North Franklin Street between Jackson and Pier streets from 6 p.m. Sunday, April 28, to 6 a.m. Monday, April 29.

“We’re going to shoot a scene we didn’t get to in December,” O’Neil said. “It’s basically the final shot.”

He’s hoping to get some extras to pose as people watching the parade while filming Santa being driven along the parade route.

O’Neil had planned to shoot the scene during the city’s parade on Dec. 1, but cold, rainy weather forced Port Main Street Inc. to cancel the event.

So instead of parade scenes, his crew got some footage of secondary characters on the sidewalk, acting as if they were watching the parade, he said. 

O’Neil said he hopes to get footage from this year’s Christmas parade in December to add to the film.

“The big thing will be if we get compatible weather,” he said. “That’s out of our hands.

“But that’s the fun of making films — you don’t know what’s going to happen. You just hope you get something good.”

In addition, O’Neil said, he plans to bring his crew back to Port for about a week in late October or early November to reshoot a couple of scenes.

“Some were compromised because of time,” he said of some scenes he shot last year. “In some, the streetlights turned on mid-scene. We changed one scene a little bit. And there are some little, pick-up shots we didn’t get to last year.”

When it comes to the April 28 and 29 shoot, O’Neil said he doesn’t think filming will take the entire 12-hour window approved by aldermen.

O’Neil described “Intoxicated Rain” as a “coming of age story set inside a family drama” that also deals with race relations.

He said he’s been working on rough editing since filming was largely completed last year.

“We’re getting close to having a rough, rough edit done,” he said.

After the December parade shots are done this year, O’Neil said it will be time to complete the editing and move on with sound and music for the film.

In 2020, he hopes to have the movie completed. He would like to enter “Intoxicated Rain” into some film festivals and find a distributor.

This is O’Neil’s third, and longest, film production. About a dozen local residents have lines in the film, and numerous others will appear in the background.

  In case of inclement weather, the April 28 and 29 shoot will take place on May 5 and 6.