From Deseret News archives:
'Bait Shop' now in production
In production on the shores of Kissimmee's Lake Toho is Parallel Entertainment Pictures' "Bait Shop," starring Billy Ray Cyrus and Bill Engvall. Engvall co-wrote the screenplay, his first, with comedian Tom Ryan. It's scheduled for release this summer on DVD and perhaps later on TV.
According to producer Alan Blomquist, the plot goes something like this: Engvall plays a small-time bait shop owner facing a steep balloon payment and being pressured to sell out to big-bass-emporium owner "Hot Rod" Johnson, played by Cyrus. Engvall's character gets talked into entering a big-money bass fishing tournament against Johnson—"one of those guys with a sequined jumpsuit," Blomquist said. The small-time bait shop owner favors purist fishing methods—shunning modern tools such as GPS and chart-plotters, while Hot Rod is a proponent of technological enhancements. Of course, Engvall's character ends up "triumphing and saving his bait shop," Blomquist said.
No comedy would be complete without stunt gags, and that's where Miami's Artie Malesci comes in. An Emmy-nominated stunt and marine coordinator for major motion pictures and television shows since the 1970s, Malesci, 57, taught the stars how to drive boats safely, then directed their stunt doubles how to crash those same boats.
In one sequence, Engvall's character races up to the dock in his motley aluminum john boat to weigh in his catch. With his outboard billowing smoke and a wind-blown tarp covering his head, he crashes into the dock, knocking a spectator into the water and sinking the boat.
The guy who actually "crashes" the boat is stunt double Bill Scharpf; the spectator is veteran stuntman Tom Bahr.
Several takes were required to get the sequence just right — Scharpf wasn't driving fast enough, or the "smoker" attached to the engine wasn't billowing sufficient fumes.
But after a few takes, director C.B. Harding deemed it a wrap.
"Shoot, I could have done that!" Engvall shouted. "I thought he was doing a stunt!"
Malesci laughed and shook his head — he had no intention of letting the star do his own gag.
"I've been in this business 30 years, and I've never had anyone spend the night in the hospital," he said. "We endanger the stunt people because they can handle the danger."
To enhance the film's realism, bass pros Preston Clark of Palatka and J.P. Prouty of Vero Beach have bit parts and also serve as impromptu consultants.
