ST. PETE BEACH - There's not a cloud in the late afternoon sky, but that brilliant blue brings brisk breezes from the Gulf of Mexico.

Brrrr. Nobody's swimming today.

It's about 4 p.m. on a Thursday, about 150 yards north of the Don CeSar Beach Resort & Spa. The pink landmark is substituting for a Miami Beach hotel circa 1974 in "Forever Mine," a feature film that spent the first 11 days of March shooting in Bay area locations.

On this chilly afternoon, director Paul Schrader wears a bulky down jacket, baseball cap and shorts as his crew sets up a long shot of Gretchen Mol strolling down a sunny beach.

At first, Mol is unrecognizable, wrapped in a heavy, ankle-length winter coat.

Sitting quietly in a high canvas chair behind the sound and camera crew, surrounded by two assistants and a fur-collared coat, is co-star Joseph Fiennes. Even without the beard, mustache and 16th century costume, he's easily spotted as the title player from "Shakespeare in Love." But nobody bugs him. Tourists, onlookers and even a mild-mannered reporter just gawk respectfully as he prepares to concentrate.

Grips with rakes smooth out the sand. Extras - a young man with a dog, a middle-aged couple, several tourist types - hold their places until an assistant director shouts, "Background!" Then they begin moving like, well, background.

Mol hands her coat to a helper and takes the wide, pink Don CeSar beach umbrella that her character carries in the scene.

Suddenly, she looks like a movie star: a slim, sensuous vision in a tropical-print green-and-white bikini. She strolls toward the camera, smiling as if enjoying an 80-degree delight. She walks until she hears "Cut!" She does it once or twice more.

Then Fiennes steps up. He removes his coat to reveal red shorts and a white polo shirt bearing a red plastic name tag and the Don CeSar logo. Obviously, he's portraying a hotel employee and she appears to be playing a guest. You can't hear the dialogue (it's so windy that they'll probably have to dub it in later). But the body language and her smile are clearly flirtatious.

They shoot this short scene five times. Twice, her umbrella blows out of shape.

The most exciting moment comes when the extra's dog escapes and romps toward the beachfront houses nearby. A uniformed policeman and a man with a Humane Society shirt fetch the errant pooch.

As Mol and Fiennes film their scene, Schrader stares into a monitor set up next to the camera. Between takes, the actors put their coats back on.

When the camera rolls, the coats come off. Neither star shivers a bit.

Now that's acting.