Production in Pinellas County on A Fonder Heart hit another road block when its star, Burt Reynolds, checked into a south Florida rehabilitation center last month and checked out after a 30-day stay. The rehab stint was reportedly due to Reynolds' addiction to painkillers and sleeping pills after recent back surgery.

A Fonder Heart writer-producer-director Jim Fitzpatrick said this morning that production was slated to begin on Sept. 21 but that date has been scrapped. Fitzpatrick said he'll have a better idea by the end of September of Reynolds' availability to work after physical therapy and rest.

The drama was originally set to start shooting in July before the first of several start-date delays due to glitches in the financing plan -- including, according to Fitzpatrick, the suicide of one investor.  Fitzpatrick said that money has been replaced by another silent partner, and the $5.4 million budget is secured.

Fitzpatrick -- a friend of Reynolds since the 1980's when he played for the star's Tampa Bay Bandits USFL football team -- has been media outlets ranging from the New York Times to TMZ, all inquiring about Reynolds' condition and the state of the movie.

"Quite honestly, people are making way too much of this," Fitzpatrick said. "I was just down there (in south Florida) with the tailor to finish up Burt's suits (for the movie) and he's fine.

"We actually knew he was going to be doing this. It's not a big deal. When you have lower back surgery, sometimes it's a complete success and other times you have pain. Sometimes when you take a painkiller it doesn't kill the pain, so you
take an extra one. That's it."

Fitzpatrick added that reports of Reynolds' rehab including alcohol addiction treatment are "a lie and a rumor. He hasn't drank alcohol in years."

Fitpatrick said the cast of A Fonder Heart -- including Daryl Hannah, Stockard Channing, James Brolin and Lou Gossett Jr. -- is still intact despite production delays.

You wouldn't know it from visiting Fitzpatrick's Pac Atlantic Pictures Web site, that previously featured full-page poster art for A Fonder Heart, trumpeting the starry cast. The poster art -- minus the cast names -- is now found in
a much smaller image under the heading: "current projects" (click on
the sailboat at the Pac Atlantic homepage to find it).

Fitzpatrick said that's the work of page designers to whom he hasn't spoken in weeks while filling the budget gap left by the investor's suicide.

"It has been a radical year, man," he said. "A lot of people lost a lot of money and jobs. Over 2,500 films have been canceled in L.A.  That tells you something. A lot of friends have called me to ask if I happen to know any investors. I said I'd love to share them but not at this point."