The Cuban flag was hoisted inside the Presidential Palace over the weekend for the filming of scenes from “The Lost City,” a film being produced by actor Andy Garcia. The Presidential Palace staff took the weekend off so the government headquarters could be lent out to the filmmakers. The script included loud detonations of explosives inside the Palace, as part of the special effects of the film. The explosions sought to simulate a struggle between guerrillas and military loyal to the late Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista.
“The Lost City” is based on a novel by Guillermo Cabrera Infante called “Three Trapped Tigers.” In the film, which also stars Robert Duvall in the role of the head of Batista’s secret police, and Dustin Hoffman in the role of mobster Meyer Lansky, Garcia takes the role of a Havana nightclub owner forced to leave for New York. The political drama recreates Cuba in the late 1950s and the Batista-Castro transition from the point of view of the people who lived there.
The local filming of “The Lost City” is part of an effort to boost the Dominican film industry on the tail of the successes of the “Nueba Yol” and “Perico Ripiao” comedies. Juan Basanta heads the local office that is offering facilities to companies seeking to film here.