Nimoy to Shoot Film In Harvard Sq. Area

Mr. Spock will beam down to Tommy's Lunch to film a movie this April.

Leonard Nimoy plans to shoot part of a Walt Disney film, "The Good Mother," in Cambridge beginning April 11. Based on the novel of the same title by city resident Sue Miller, the movie will star Diane Keaton and Jason Robards. William Blum, a spokesman for Nimoy, said it is due out next Thanksgiving.

The film crew will work in the Cambridge area for a week, taking "establishment shots" of the city's streets and skyline to show that the movie is set in Cambridge. However, Nimoy will produce the the bulk of the film in Toronto, said Hilary Clark, publicity director for Walt Disney Studios. She attributed the location change to "sheer economics."

Locations such as 69 Prentiss Street, the Middlesex County Courthouse, and several Harvard Square spots, including Tommy's Lunch, may make their way into the film, said Blum.

The movie is a "fairly faithful" adaptation of the 1986 best-selling novel about a custody battle for a little girl, Clark said. She likened the film to "Kramer Vs. Kramer," a 1979 film with a similar theme.

Touchstone Films a department of Disney Studios that deals with more adult themes than the purely family oriented stories of Walt Disney Pictures, will produce the film, she said.

Disney filed a petition with the City Council this week asking for cooperation fromthe city and its residents. At their regularmeeting on Monday night, Council members gave CityManager Robert M. Healy the power to grant therequest.

Although the City Council did not take anyaction to stall the shooting, several members saidat the meeting that they feared the film coulddisrupt citizens' lives.

Joseph Foley, a local production manager whotestified for the Council on Disney's behalf, saidhe planned to ask individual local residents forpermission to film in their neighborhoods.

City Councillor Alice K. Wolf said yesterdaythat Healy technically has the right to call offthe filming, but that in practice, he will "workout the details so they won't be obnoxious to theresidents."

She said she had feared the filming would causeparking problems and that "shooting too early ortoo late" would bother residents near the filmsites. But she added, "we like to support ourlocal authors."

The film crew will probably audition localresidents for position as extras at their hotel,Clark said. Disney has not yet determined whetherthe shooting will be open to the public, sheadded.

Seth A. Gitell contributed to the reportingof this story.