Business owners are complaining about losing customers

Oct 2, 2014 13:04 GMT  ·  By

What's the price you pay for having Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt spend months in your town and making a movie at the same time? That was an answer some of the business owners on the island of Gozo are just finding out and it's not to their liking.

The small island off of Malta first welcomed with open arms the celebrity couple when it was announced that they chose Gozo as the setting of their new movie, with local authorities publicly welcoming them and saying that they would be great ambassadors for tourism in their town.

Locals are becoming annoyed with Angelina's movie, complain that they are losing money from tourists

Those feelings might have since passed, as the Sun is reporting that some of the local shopkeepers are complaining that their business and lifestyle are being disrupted by the production process.

Previously, it was announced that the authorities had agreed to shut down a public beach in Gozo until November, but now it's surfaced that the production crew has cordoned off several other areas of the island for filming.

The diving town is usually packed with tourists this time of the year, but the filming is definitely putting a strain on the local tourist activity and business owners are afraid that the strain is going to hit their income hard.

A local business owner, Donna Hayler-Montague, who runs a diving center told the press “Brad and Angelina started filming in August and originally the Prime Minister said the bays would be closed for a few days.”

Business owners are willing to compromise, promise to forbid cameras and phones

“Now they plan to be there till November. Our high season is September and October so they've taken over the bays in that season. It is quite dramatic for the diving community. We are asking for compromise. We have offered not to take phones or cameras along,” the disgruntled shop owner says.

Another rumor that was floating around last month was that Angelina and Brad were paying off some of the residents living next to the areas they had already closed off to leave their homes so that the couple could have more privacy.

While it's still not known just how much of the island the film crew has taken over, it's clear that the shooting schedule is interfering with normal life and business at the tourist destination. Filming is scheduled to last until November on the movie “By the Sea” which is supposed to be a love story written and directed by Angelina Jolie.