Smarts on set of TV movie

HALIFAX, Nova Scotia — On a quiet street just outside the downtown area here, a man is making a plea for his daughter to be returned safely after she was kidnapped less than 24 hours earlier.

"Please bring her home . . . please!" the man exclaims with tears in his eyes.

As the man walks away from scores of reporters and photographers there is suddenly another voice in the background, this time a director yelling, "Cut!"

Sitting next to the director and watching with his head resting in his hand is the Utahn whom the actor that just finished the scene was portraying: Ed Smart.

Ed and Lois Smart arrived Sunday on the set of the made-for-TV movie "The Elizabeth Smart Story." The movie has been shooting for about three weeks and is scheduled to wrap up Oct. 2. CBS will air the movie this fall. An exact date is expected to be announced this week.

Elizabeth Smart stayed in Utah and did not travel to Nova Scotia with her parents.

Sunday afternoon, crews filmed the emotional first press conference Ed Smart held after his daughter was abducted in June 2002.

"It's almost like I couldn't watch it. It did seem very real," said Smart after watching the scene. "The red eyes and tears looked good."

That day was the start of an emotional nine-month roller coaster for the entire Smart family. Both Ed and Lois admit it's been tough having to relive it through numerous interviews as the movie script and a book that is scheduled to come out next month were written.

In fact, both the Smarts said they weren't interested in making a movie or writing a book after Elizabeth was found. They had hoped her return to them would be the end of their time in the media spotlight.

"It wasn't that way, and it hasn't been that way since," Lois Smart said.

Both the movie and the book are being told from the point of view of Ed and Lois. Although there has been some criticism of the Smarts for signing a book and movie deal, both say they didn't want to risk someone else telling their story and getting it wrong or putting out a sensationalized version.

"If we didn't do it, then someone else would do it and who better to tell the story than those who have lived it?" Lois Smart asked rhetorically.