The Red Inn & Race Point Lighthouse

Lights, camera ... Provincetown? The extreme tip of Cape Cod is known for its pristine views and breathtaking landscapes continues to attract artists and actors in droves looking to escape from the hustle and bustle of big-city living.

However, not since the late, great Norman Mailer filmed his flick Tough Guys Don't Dance in the late '80s, Provincetown hasn’t seen much made-in-Massachusetts movie action until filmmaker Daniel Adams set up shop at the Race Point Lighthouse last summer.

Starring Richard Dreyfuss and Blythe Danner, the made-in-Ptown film The Lightkeepers follows a lighthouse keeper in 1912 who, having disavowed any association with females, must deal with the appearance of two attractive women who move into a nearby cottage for the summer.

A huge portion of The Lightkeepers was shot in May 2009 at the Race Point Lighthouse, a restored 1840 keeper's house in the west of the "Province Lands," the picturesque area of dunes and small ponds along the Massachusetts Bay shore.

Jim Walker, chairman of the Cape Cod Chapter of the American Lighthouse Foundation and head keeper of the Race Point Lighthouse, says the cast and crew had to travel two miles over the sand to get to The Lightkeepers set. “They hired local people who knew how to drive on the sand and trekked the equipment in and out,” he says, adding that crews shot the film from May 4 to May 29, 2009. “There were 60 to 70 people on set and director Dan Adams brought in people by the truckload. They also brought in horses and wagons. It was a big production.”

Walker says director Adams didn’t touch the historically refurbished Race Point Lighthouse during filming, except for crafting a new door and shutters to the keeper’s house.  “The carpenters built a new door and we decided that we’re going to keep it that way. While the shutters aren’t historically correct, we’re keeping them too because they look nice. Other than that, they filmed it the way it was," Walker explains.

Meanwhile, the nearby Red Inn was a major player in Norman Mailer’s film Tough Guys Don't Dance, set in off-season Provincetown in the ‘80s. In the movie, the tip of Cape Cod is like a character in itself.

David Silva, owner of the 200-year old Red Inn located at 15 Commercial St., says he remembers crews filming throughout his hometown. “I actually ran into Ryan O’Neal and Farrah Fawcett at what’s now called Fanizzi’s but was then Pucci’s Harbor Side (located at 539 Commercial St.),” recalls Silva, a third-generation local. “I poked my head into their private dining area by accident and they were like, ‘Haven’t you seen celebrities before?’ And, I responded, ‘Yes, I have, but I’m waiting for the bathroom.’”

Silva says when he returned to the bar at Pucci’s, the star couple purchased Silva a drink on the house.  “Yes, the town quite abuzz back then,” he muses, chatting about Mailer’s flick that also stars Isabella Rossellini.

In 2001, Silva purchased the Red Inn, a cozy place in the West End known for its fabulous views of Provincetown Harbor and famous clientele that includes celebrities and politicos. “When they shot the scene at the bar [at the Red Inn], they upgraded the entire space and they ended up keeping it the way it appears in the movie.”

HelloMetro Tip: Heading to Provincetown from Boston? Take the Boston Harbor Cruises' high-speed ferry, which transports visitors from Boston to Ptown in 90 minutes.

- by Sam Baltrusis, Boston Reporter for HelloMetro  (Click to leave a message)

Sam Baltrusis

Sam Baltrusis has worked for WHDH.com, Spike-TV, VH1, Independent News, Seventeen, Newsweek, and as a regional stringer for The New York Times. He's currently a full-time freelance editor and writer in Boston, where he's an instructor for Mediabistro.com and contributes to various regional publications including Boston Spirit Magazine. Sam also publishes a successful pop culture site, LoadedGunBoston.com, and was recently featured on WCVB-TV's "Chronicle" and Boston's NPR affiliate WBUR.