Hollywood, Reality Collide in N. Carolina Bar Brawl

In a case of life imitating art, a barroom brawl between local residents and Hollywood actors here to film a movie called “Domestic Disturbances” sent one of the performers back home with slash wounds to his head, throat and arm.

Steve Buscemi, 43, the versatile character actor known for his roles in “Reservoir Dogs” and “Fargo,” was treated at a local hospital and then left for New York after he was allegedly attacked early Thursday by a knife-wielding 21-year-old Wilmington man.

The dust-up occurred outside the Firebelly Lounge, a local hangout favored by the many Hollywood transplants who come here regularly to film at the largest studio east of the Mississippi.

Timothy W. Fogerty was arrested and charged with assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, a felony. He was released on $50,000 bond.

Also arrested in the melee were actor Vince Vaughn, 31, and screenwriter Scott Rosenberg, 37. Both were charged with a misdemeanor known here as “affray,” similar to disturbing the peace, and freed on $600 bonds.

Buscemi and Vaughn were in town shooting “Domestic Disturbances,” which stars John Travolta. Rosenberg is a writer for a Showtime series also being filmed at the local Screen Gems studio.

A fourth man, Kenneth Purgason, 20, who was with Fogerty, was also charged with a misdemeanor.

Purgason told local reporters that the fight began when someone’s girlfriend started talking to Vaughn. He declined to elaborate, saying he hoped to sell his story to a tabloid news show.

Police reports released by local authorities said all the men involved in the incident had been drinking. Police declined to comment further.

“This investigation is in the early stages,” said Assistant Dist. Atty. Ben David, who said he had to review his department’s policy about talking to the media after being deluged by calls.

The news about Buscemi shocked residents of this sleepy coastal town, recognizable to television viewers as the mythical Capeside in “Dawson’s Creek.” They described the actor, who also filmed “28 Days” here, as mild mannered, polite and always friendly.

Just recently the local paper devoted an entire story about how at ease Travolta felt while in town with his family--the kind of place, the actor said, where he could walk down the street and not be bothered.

News of the fight took nearly a day to make its way around the city, where carriages toting tourists this week were drawn by horses wearing bunny ears and faux cotton tails for the Easter holiday.

Locals said Joshua Jackson of “Dawson’s Creek” and other celebrities frequent the laid-back Firebelly Lounge, where bands play rockabilly. The other patrons, they said, usually leave them alone.

“I’ve been here 16 years and never heard of anything like this happening with stars,” said Nate Hoffman, who owns Caffe Phoenix, a California-style bistro that gets heavy traffic from the studio. “Seeing stars in town is no big deal because we are so used to it.”

But it was not the first time the local film industry has brought a measure of notoriety to the hometown of basketball legend Michael Jordan.

Brandon Lee, the son of martial arts star Bruce Lee, was killed in Wilmington in 1993 while filming “The Crow” when a prop gun containing blanks misfired. Katie Holmes, one of the “Dawson’s Creek” stars, has had trouble with a local stalker.

But some in town cautioned that hard feelings among drinking men might have little to do with celebrity.

“The way I see it, this kind of thing happens between individuals here and in Los Angeles all the time,” said Johnny Griffin, director of Wilmington’s film commission. “In this case, a few of those people happened to be famous.”