'Fear of Rain' Filmed In St. Pete, Features Local Movie Star

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — "Fear of Rain" starring Katherine Heigl, Harry Connick Jr. and St. Petersburg's own Eugenie Bondurant will show at the downtown Greenlight Cinema starting Friday.

"This story is about a young woman with schizophrenia, and every character is trying to relate to it," Bondurant told Patch. "And what's beautiful about the film is the director and writer, Castille Landon, who is a Bradenton native, shows the audience how to have empathy for her."

Schizophrenia is a mental disorder in which people interpret reality abnormally, according to the Mayo Clinic. Schizophrenia may result in some combination of hallucinations, delusions, and extremely disordered thinking.

The main character in the movie, Rain Burroughs, struggles with terrifying hallucinations as she begins to suspect her neighbor, who is played by Bondurant, has kidnapped a child. The only person who believes her is Caleb — a boy she isn't even sure exists.

Madison Iseman, who played in "Still The King" on CMT, plays Burroughs.

The house where Burroughs and her family lived, and the house where the neighbor lived were filmed at two houses next door to each other in the Old Northeast area of St. Pete. Other parts of the movie were filmed in Tampa.

"It's a very good film, and I'm proud to be part of it," Bondurant said.

Bondurant is a New Orleans native and so is her co-star, musician and actor Connick. Bondurant said she got very nervous when she thought about acting with Connick.

"I call Harry my hometown boy because we're both from New Orleans," Bondurant said. "I even told Harry about my nervousness around him, but he's such a nice guy, and he's so funny."

Bondurant only met Heigl once during the filming. Heigl is known for her role in "Grey's Anatomy."

"We met actually on a little golf cart. She was being escorted to a car, and I was being escorted to the pharmacy where we were going to film in the Davis Island area. She was polite and very nice for the few minutes I saw her, but I don't think she would know me if she saw me on the street," Bondurant said with a laugh.

Adjustments in the script were made for Bondurant to play the neighbor role. Initially, the part was a male neighbor, she explained, but they changed it to a female so that she could play the role.

St. Pete has been graced with more Hollywood actors filming and directing in the area in the past year. Justin Long filmed scenes in 2020 for "Lady of the Manor" in St. Petersburg, and other areas in Tampa Bay. Long's film is an upcoming comedy film.

Tony Armer, film commissioner for St. Pete/Clearwater, has done such a great job bringing people from the film industry here, Bondurant said. She hopes more movies continue to be filmed in St. Petersburg.

"Fear of Rain" can be seen Feb. 12 through Feb. 18 at Greenlight Cinema, 221 Second Avenue N. For tickets and more information, visit its website.