Bill Wade, Post-Gazette photos Director Mike Mayer, left, gives instructions to Shannon Lucio, second from right, who will be filmed carrying pizza into the bank wearing her high school graduation gown and a bullet proof vest. Getting out of the sun under an umbrella is Adam Arkin. Click photo for larger image.

Police in Beaver Falls have cordoned off the square surrounding the patriot statue at Seventh Avenue and 11th Street, as SWAT-team snipers on the roof of a nearby furniture store train their telescopic sights on the glass doors of the 100-year-old Forge Hill Bank & Trust. Inside, a band of armed teenagers has taken control of the building during a botched bank heist.

On second glance, something's wrong. A few too many of those local cops are avoiding the doughnut tray on a table down the street, and as they lounge on the sidewalk the chrome on their assault weapons shines like metallic plastic. When did a furniture store open in that vacant storefront? When did these new guys move into the former Farmers National Bank? And what's with the statue in the middle of Route 18?

Escaping the heat under a big floppy straw hat, Bob Degas chuckles at this directional dysfunction. He's overseeing the "heist," which is actually the climactic final scene of "Graduation," a feature-length film being shot entirely at locations in and around Pittsburgh. It's a low-budget production costing several million, drawn to southwestern Pennsylvania by the region's adaptive locations, a new state tax rebate plan that makes filming here more cost-effective, and a convincing argument from the Pittsburgh Film Office.

"Graduation" stars Adam Arkin as a small-town bank president, cheating husband and father of a member of a high school graduating class who schemes to rob the bank during the graduation ceremony. The film includes Shannon Lucio of TV's "The O.C.," Chris Lowell of "Life As We Know It," Chris Marquette of "The Girl Next Door" and "Joan of Arcadia," and Riley Smith of "New York Minute," "Eight Legged Freaks" and "Joan of Arcadia."

Co-producer Robin Bradford said yesterday that Mare Winningham has dropped out of the project since filming began this month.

"Graduation" was written by D. Cory Turner and is being directed by Michael Mayer in his first feature film. Degas and his co-producers have separately produced "Seabiscuit," "Pleasantville," "A Man Apart," "Bram Stoker's Dracula" and "Godfather III."

Leigh Ann Izzo and her dog, Randy, take a break from working at Sharon's Gentle Touch Grooming on Seventh Avenue in Beaver Falls to watch filming of the movie "Graduation." Mike Boniphant of Beaver Falls and his son Hayden, 7, on the sidewalk, also keep tabs on the action. Click photo for larger image.

Beaver Falls and locations in Mt. Lebanon and Downtown will serve as a small town somewhere in Eastern Pennsylvania. As in most movie shoots, they're filming out of sequence. From under the shade of his floppy hat, standing at Seventh and 11th, Degus separates additional fact from fiction.

"These police here," he says, pointing to the black-shirted SWAT team, "they're all actors and, of course, their guns are all plastic. And these local police, they're ... well, I don't know. Some of them are real police who are here for security, some are actors, and some of the real police might be used as extras. I'm not sure."

The weathered patriot statute, a giant, stone block topped with a copper Colonist carrying a flintlock? Pure fiction.

"We added this statue," says Degas, "which is sort of a Revolutionary War thing, to kind of give this particular intersection the feel of the center of the town."

Pittsburgh set builders constructed the massive statue from wood and plaster off site and assembled it in Beaver Falls. Degas says between 15 and 20 local actors were hired for "Graduation," and the crew is two-thirds local.

Behind police-line tape, a crowd of spectators watch the curious goings-on at the now-busy intersection. They're real. Some will be extras in the movie playing, well, a crowd of spectators watching the curious goings-on at the now-busy intersection.

A few are getting paid. Twenty-one-year-old Candi Boyd of Hampton is a third-year musical theater major at Point Park University. She jokes that despite her acting training -- she's been in stage productions and a few commercials -- she was hired as a stand-in because ...

"Shannon Lucio is 5-foot-7 with red hair." Boyd fluffs her long locks. "I'm 5-foot-7 with red hair. So, I'm her stand-in. I get to stand on the marks when [she's] not there."

It's actually more practical than that. After the actors rehearse each scene, Boyd and another extra assume their positions while crew members adjust the lighting, cameras and sound equipment.

"When the actual actor comes back they don't need us anymore," she says, "so that's when I run to the bathroom or get something to eat."

Since filming began in early August, Boyd has put in several 12-hour days each week. The stand-in job pays $100 per day. The talent agency that got her the gig gets 20 percent.

"One thing that I didn't expect," says Boyd, "is they're so nice here. Everybody is so accommodating. You work this long with people, you get to be friends with them.' "

Boyd says she finds one part of being a stand-in personally frustrating:

"I'm a stage actor, and this is all so close to what I want to be doing. But I'm the stand-in."

Most stand-ins don't get screen time. But after weeks of working behind the scenes, Boyd finally got a brief moment on camera.

"Today I'm a news reporter," she says, beaming. "I don't have any lines, but I got to stand in the background and look all concerned."

This week, "Graduation" is filming interior scenes Downtown. Degas says they'll be in and around Pittsburgh through Labor Day. Fans can keep track of the film's progress on a daily diary set up on the film's Web site at www.graduationthemovie.com.