"The Glades" is filmed in the Fort Lauderdale area of South Florida
Kiele Sanchez stars in "The Glades"
“The Glades,” a police drama set which follows a Chicago detective who relocates to South Florida, expecting to slide into a cushy job with plenty of time to hit the beaches and golf courses. But he quickly realizes that life isn’t going to be as simple or as relaxing as he thought it would be for the location. Besides being set in South Florida, the show is filmed in the Fort Lauderdale area. Most Florida-themed shows, like “CSI: Miami,” are filmed primarily in California. The USA Network’s “Burn Notice,” which recently began shooting its fifth season in Miami, is the only other show filmed totally in Florida.
The Glades creator and executive producer, Clifton Campbell, grew up near Miami and knew he couldn’t capture South Florida’s essence anywhere else. “I’ve noticed a lot of shows that try to be set there without actually shooting there, and it’s always sort of rankled me a little bit,” Campbell said. “So I decided that I wanted to set a show there, not just in South Florida, but in my South Florida, the part of the world that I grew up in, that I think is just as stunningly attractive and interesting and weird and cool as South Beach.” Clifton’s South Florida, for the purposes of the show, is the fictional town of Palm Glade. As a detective with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the show’s protagonist covers an area that includes beautiful beaches and gator-infested swamps. By filming in South Florida, Campbell said the environment will be like another character. Soundstages were built in an industrial space in Pembroke Park, a Fort Lauderdale suburb, but Campbell said they generally shoot outside on location five days a week. Campbell acknowledged that they probably could have faked Florida in California or somewhere else, but they wouldn’t have been able to do nearly as much location shooting.”I don’t know if the entire world or country would notice the difference, but anyone who’s been to Florida would know,” Campbell said. “You could cheat it and get away with it. But that’s what you would be doing, getting away with it.”
Regardless of the setting, the show’s success or failure could ultimately hang on how audiences respond to its lead, Matt Passmore and Kiele Sanchez. As an Australian, Passmore said he’s just as much a fish-out-of-water as Jim Longworth. “I’m an Aussie playing a Chicago cop who’s down in Florida,” Passmore said. After appearing on several television series in his native country, Passmore came to the U.S. to shoot a pilot for Fox. It didn’t get picked up, but that cleared the way for him to land on “The Glades“…”When this script came along, the characters kind of jumped off the page,” Passmore said. “It wasn’t your average cop show. And this character, it just looked like there was a lot of fun to be had.”
Despite the fun Passmore is having, his character might not be so lucky. In the series premiere, Longworth gets pulled away from the golf course when he has to investigate a decapitated body found in a swamp. Other distractions in subsequent episodes include a corpse inside a plane on a nature preserve and a man found dead at a bikini contest. All the while, Passmore’s character is trying to kindle a romance with a medical student and single mother played by Kiele Sanchez. (more…)
'The Glades', Matt Passmore Solves Dark Crimes in the Florida Sunshine for A&E Network
“There’s a weird, off-speed criminality that happens in Florida,” Campbell says. “When we got A&E in on developing this into the series it has become, a lot of the conversation was, ‘It seems like every aberrant crime that happens, it happens in Florida, or someone has fled to Florida.” As to why this is, Campbell says, “I can’t put my finger on it. I grew up around it, so I’m used to it. It wasn’t until I got out in the world and talked to people about where I’m from, and they’d go, ‘That’s a weird place, isn’t it?’ I guess it is.”
In “The Glades,” Australian actor Matt Passmore stars as Jim Longworth, a newcomer to the Sunshine State. Previously a homicide detective in Chicago who was unjustly accused of a dalliance with his former captain’s wife, he decided to head to warmer climes, where he could pursue his love of golf. He now lives in the fictional town of Palm Glade, works for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement as a detective, and in between tee times, takes up the occasional crime in his own idiosyncratic way. And the murders just keep coming, whether it’s a body in a swamp, one found in an airplane at a nature preserve or a guy who turned up dead at a bikini contest. Each time, Longworth reluctantly leaves the golf course and pesters people until he gets to the truth. (more…)
The Glades currently on W Channel Australia, Stars Matt Passmore, Kiele Sanchez
Masterwork, a Pilot developed by Paul T. Scheuring (Prison Break) for FOX, was put on ice. The “Da Vinci Code” meets The Amazing Race project was suddenly deemed too expensive. Matt Passmore had won a lead just a week after concluding Underbelly. But despite the show being killed, it would ultimately lead to his next break.
“It was all going to be filmed in Europe. Every scene was in some kind of international place. They were flying up and down the Croatian coast to find places they could use as Japan, China, India, Italy. It was a great concept and it’s what got me over to the States, really,” he told TV Tonight.
“They had shot the thing so well and spent so much money on it that it was hard for any network to put out that kind of dosh.”
Now the boy from Brisbane has the lead role in US cable drama The Glades as Det. Jim Longworth, who relocates from Chicago to Florida after being wrongfully accused of having sex with his former captain’s wife. US critics have given him the thumbs up.
Passmore, who has appeared in McLeod’s Daughters, The Cut and Underbelly, is now home for Christmas, and says that whether acting in Australia or overseas, the job isn’t too different.
“You look around and you think ‘I’m not in Sydney now, I’m in Old Town Prague.’ But you know what, every set feels the same. You’re there to do a job, the crew’s doing a job. It becomes more about where you are, but the actual doing of the job feels the same whether you’re in Old Town Prague or sweating your arse off in a swamp in Florida,” he says.
But he concedes the trappings of US television are just a tad nicer, even if the workload limits his ability to enjoy them.
“I stayed in this amazing 2 bedroom condo in Hollywood Beach, opening out onto the ocean but I barely saw that thing. If you’re the lead in a show you’ve really got to put the work in,” he says.
“The other guys would try to drag me out to a Salsa Club but honestly I didn’t have the time or the energy to do anything but the work. It was very, very regimented. (more…)
Hollywood Art and Culture Center Building Highlighted in Hit TV Series 'The Glades'
A&E Network’s new hit TV series “The Glades” uses the Art and Culture of Hollywood as one of its primary venues when filming its show. The Center’s beautiful example of Mediterranean Revival architecture serves as the exterior of police substation No. 3 in the series.
Formerly known as “Sugarloaf,” the show stars Australian actor Matt Passmore (“McLeod’s Daughters,” “Underbelly”) as Jim Longworth, a Chicago homicide detective who relocates to fictional Palm Glade, FL, a sleepy town that’s not as idyllic as it looks. Cast members also include Kiele Sanchez (“Lost,” “Samantha Who?”) and Carlos Gómez (“Shark,” “Sleeper Cell”).
Produced by Fox Television Studios for A&E, the series executive producer is Clifton Campbell (“White Collar,” “Profiler,” “21 Jump Street”) for Innuendo Productions and Gary Randall (“Saving Grace”) for Grand Productions, Inc. This production team also films USA’s popular “Burn Notice” in South Florida. Created by Campbell, the TV series is directed by Peter O’ Fallon.
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W Channel Delivers the Red Hot Drama 'The Glades' for Summer
Kiele Sanchez, The Glades
Following rave reviews in the US and starring Australia’s own Matt Passmore (Underbelly, McLeod’s Daughters), W channel delivers the red hot drama The Glades for summer. Jim Longworth (Passmore) is an attractive, brilliant, yet hard-to-get-along-with homicide detective from Chicago who is forced into exile after being wrongfully accused of sleeping with his former captain’s wife. Using the payout he received from the Chicago PD, Longworth searches for the simple life and moves to the sleepy resort town of Palm Glade, Florida, joining the local bureau of the state police figuring it’ll be an easy piece of time. Longworth prefers to work his cases alone and sharing his theories with other detectives only serves to annoy him. But despite his cocky, annoying self-confidence, people put up with him because he’s too charming to ignore, and damned good at solving murders. Also stars Kiele Sanchez as Callie Cargill, Carlos Gomez as Carlos Sanchez and Michelle Hurd as Colleen Manus. Ep 7. Cassadaga. A psychic advisor is murdered in the eerie town of Cassadaga, founded over 100 years ago by mediums and psychics; a former medium helps Longworth in his investigation, but spooks him slightly when she warns him that someone close to him is about to die; meanwhile, Callie’s friend Heather invites Longworth to be her date at a party for Callie’s medical school. Guest starring Australian Rachael Carpani as Heather.
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