“Sleeping With the Enemy” is a film about an abused wife who fakes her own drowning, flees to the Midwest and begins a new life in a small college town. Still, her creepy, control-freak husband tracks her down. Julia Roberts, Patrick Bergin and Kevin Anderson starred in the movie, which filmed around Wilmington from March to June 1990.

Locations for the film included Thalian Hall, Figure Eight Island, Bald Head Island, the old New Hanover County fairgrounds on Carolina Beach Road and the EUE/Screen Gems Studios. The Fort Fisher State Recreation Area (at “the cove” near the rocks) was the site of Laura’s “burial” in the movie.

The unhappy couple’s perfect beach house was a huge temporary construction on Shell Island at the north end of Wrightsville Beach, overlooking Mason Inlet. After shooting wrapped, technicians demolished the house and restored the dunes to their previous condition, planting sea oats and beach grass. The production later donated lumber from the set to a Habitat for Humanity project in South Carolina.

To help draw crowds for the carnival scenes, the production company staged a three-day “Family Fun Fair” at the county fairgrounds. Proceeds from the rides and concessions were donated to local charities. Julia Roberts popped up around Wilmington in close company with her boyfriend at the time, Kiefer Sutherland.

We’re constantly updating the local film information over at www.StarNewsOnline.com/WilmOnFilm. Check there for more information about all of the TV and movie productions that have filmed in the Wilmington area.

Date posted: October 8, 2009

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