Florida Civil Rights Martyrs Were Murdered on Christmas in 1951
Fort Lauderdale Beach goes Hollywood on June 30, 2022 when large moving trucks will descend on the 3500 block of Galt Ocean Mile in Fort Lauderdale, Florida to unload the stage and set components for the new Mario Van Peeples film “The Price for Freedom,” a story about the legendary Florida civil rights pioneers Harry and Harriette Moore.
The load-in for the closed set begins Thursday, June 30 and continues through Friday, July 1 at 3564 North Ocean Blvd. (A1A) beginning at 10 a.m. through approximately 3 p.m. each day.
Built by prominent Miami-based production designer Jerry Blohm, the 15’ X 20’ set being used in The Price for Freedom painstakingly replicates the Moores’ Mims, Florida home, where the couple was murdered on Christmas in 1951 when a bomb exploded under their bedroom floor. Harry Moore was a Brevard County teacher and NAACP organizer in the 1930s and 40s and was credited with increasing the number of registered African-American voters from five to nearly 40 percent, among other monumental civil rights achievements.
No one was ever convicted of killing the Moores.
Filming begins for six weeks in late July and includes exterior shots to be completed in a Davie, Florida orange grove setting that strongly resembles where the Moores lived. Top Cat II Productions, led by producer Walter T. Shaw, will complete the interior shots at the Galt Ocean Mile location, which formerly housed a bank and is currently up for sale.
The property owner, who is a lifelong friend of The Price for Freedom casting director Ed Arenas, gutted half of the interior to accommodate the sets and eventual filming.
The Price for Freedom screenplay by John Didonna and Shaw is inspired by the book, The Bomb Heard Around the World and explores the mystery behind the Moores’ slayings.
The Price for Freedom movie is directed by Mario Van Peebles (Wu-Tang: An American Saga, Empire, The Last Ship, Sons of Anarchy) who stars as Moore opposite Aisha Jackson, the first Black actor to portray the role of Anna in Frozen on Broadway. Van Peebles’ many film roles include his critically acclaimed performance as another civil rights icon, Malcolm X, in the Oscar® nominated Ali.
The cast is rounded out by three-time Emmy® winner Keith David (Greenleaf), Kevin Sorbo (Soul Surfer, God’s Not Dead, Faith Under Fire) and Harry Lennix (The Blacklist).
