BorderEevilIII
07-30-2003, 08:07 PM
MEXICAN HELL FOR MODINE
Actor Matthew Modine will think twice about returning to Mexico after getting arrested there while making his directorial debut in Tijuana.
The movie star was unaware he'd committed a crime when he 'bribed' an official to let him film scenes in "One Last Score" on a street in the border town.
But when a motley crew of undercover cops turned up to arrest him, he admits he feared for his life.
He reveals, "They have a thing in Spanish called mordida, which I think means bribe money. We paid somebody to film on the right side of the street, and we were on the left side of the street and they said, 'You haven't paid us.'
"We said, 'We paid you yesterday and they said, 'No, you paid to film on this side of the street.' We thought we owned the street.
"Literally, 15 trucks came down the road and all these people jumped out. Nothing was really official about the way anything looked and they told me to sit down on the ground and I was to be arrested.
"They wanted to see my passport and my working papers. There were no badges, nothing. The head guy pulled my arm almost out of the socket and pushed me down on the ground.
"It was terrifying. We paid them $5,000, which isn't a lot. But, on a movie that cost just $700,000, it is."
sfgate-dailydish
Actor Matthew Modine will think twice about returning to Mexico after getting arrested there while making his directorial debut in Tijuana.
The movie star was unaware he'd committed a crime when he 'bribed' an official to let him film scenes in "One Last Score" on a street in the border town.
But when a motley crew of undercover cops turned up to arrest him, he admits he feared for his life.
He reveals, "They have a thing in Spanish called mordida, which I think means bribe money. We paid somebody to film on the right side of the street, and we were on the left side of the street and they said, 'You haven't paid us.'
"We said, 'We paid you yesterday and they said, 'No, you paid to film on this side of the street.' We thought we owned the street.
"Literally, 15 trucks came down the road and all these people jumped out. Nothing was really official about the way anything looked and they told me to sit down on the ground and I was to be arrested.
"They wanted to see my passport and my working papers. There were no badges, nothing. The head guy pulled my arm almost out of the socket and pushed me down on the ground.
"It was terrifying. We paid them $5,000, which isn't a lot. But, on a movie that cost just $700,000, it is."
sfgate-dailydish