BRUNSWICK, Maine (AP) - Mainers will get a sneak peak at the Hollywood production "Message in a Bottle," which was filmed almost entirely in Maine last summer.
The movie starring Kevin Costner and Paul Newman will premiere at two theaters in Brunswick on Feb. 8, four days before it opens at theaters around the rest of the country.
Maine Film Office Director Lea Girardin said she is trying to convince Newman to attend. Costner will not be able to come.
Proceeds from the premiere's ticket sales will benefit the nonprofit Maine Maritime Museum in Bath, which let production crews shoot several scenes inside its boat shop for six days last summer.
The movie is set in North Carolina but nearly all the movie's scenes were shot in Maine, Girardin said.
Locations include Portland, New Harbor, a fishing village in the Lincoln County town of Bristol, Popham Beach in Phippsburg, the Maine Maritime Museum in Bath, and several historic homes in Bath.
"I've been told the scenery is drop dead gorgeous. Visually, the film is supposed to be absolutely stunning," said Girardin, whose office worked behind the scenes for months to convince Warner Bros. Studio to shoot the film in Maine.
"Message In A Bottle" turned out to be the largest film project ever created in the state. The film's producers estimated its 225 production crew workers and 200 extras spent about $6 million on local goods and services during their stay here last summer.
In the movie, Wright Penn plays a divorcee with one son, who works for the Chicago Tribune. She finds a bottle on a deserted coastline that contains a moving, passionate letter signed by "G". Her search for the letter's author leads her to the outer banks of North Carolina, to a sailboat builder named Garret Blake (Costner), a solitary widower.
Newman plays Costner's father, Dodge. The movie is based on a bestselling novel by Nicholas Sparks.