Bali was taken by surprise; dozens of trucks and transport cars for the final shooting of Hollywood latest project “Eat Pray Love” arrived ahead of the schedule, and lined the rice fields of Banjar Bentuyung, Ubud, without prior communication with the local villagers, as a result some locals arranged a protest and demanded a Rp. 300-million-payment for the use of some venues for film shooting.

Local villagers said that they had been informed that schedule for the shooting would begin at the beginning of November, but the crew and cars came up ahead of schedule without any notice. Bentuyung’s Chief said that he had no time to inform the arrival of the crew, the shooting dates, the closing of the road and so on to the villagers since the film crew was arrived already. He also added that the crew arrived three days before Galungan so he could not do anything since everybody was busy preparing the holiday celebration.

Government officials moved quickly to quell this unrest, The Regent of Gianyar Tjokorda Oka Artha Ardana Sukawati in a news conference said that the villagers had been calmed down, the unrest was just a result of communication failure and there is no longer any problem. He also added that each of six villages where the shooting will be conducted had received Rp. 10 million (US$1,064).

Bali is the last location (after Italy and India) for the shooting of “Eat, Pray, Love”, a film based on Elizabeth Gilbert’s book with the same title. The shooting in Bali will be conducted in several venues including Banjar Bentuyung, Banjar Nyuh Kuning, Pengosekan, the Ubud Art Market and Monkey Forest Park, all in Gianyar Regency and some other venues including Jimbaran and Uluwatu in Badung Regency.

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