DUNEDIN, Fla. — If you're in the Dunedin and Safety Harbor area, you may see a "super" familiar face.
Actor Dean Cain, best known for his starring role as Clark Kent/Superman in "Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman," is taking on a new role in a movie that is filming right here in the Tampa Bay area.
He'll be playing the mayor of Dunedin in the upcoming film "R.A.D.A.R.: Adventures of the Bionic Dog." Filming has already begun and will last through the month of April.
St. Petersburg/Clearwater Film Commissioner Tony Armer says the film will be a "fun, family-friendly adventure."
The film centers around a "wonderfully mad" villain named Dr. Vanhook, who has built the "most incredible invention that ever walked the planet" — a bionic dog, according to an online casting release.
"R.A.D.A.R.," which stands for Remote Activated Doubloon Acquiring Rex, was built to track down Spanish gold, aka doubloons, along the Florida coast.
But Vanhook doesn't realize the dog has emotions and a moral compass and has befriended a child. The dog helps the boy find a legendary pirate treasure, and now the villain is doing everything to get the dog and the treasure for himself and keep it from the town that really needs it.
And who is playing this "gleefully evil" villain? For some in the Tampa Bay area, it's another familiar face and name — local actor and St. Petersburg native Paul Wilson, older brother of actor Patrick Wilson. The younger Wilson is known for his starring roles in "Phantom of the Opera" and "The Conjuring" franchise.
Wilson is also the son of retired Tampa news anchor John Wilson.
Armer says the local production will provide about 30 local jobs and the production has already invested $400,000 into the local area for filming.
And, Armer adds, the producer of the film is familiar with the Tampa Bay area. Marty Poole has already made two movies in the region, "Bernie the Dolphin" and "Bernie the Dolphin 2."