Maritime movie magic.

TOO BAD THE OSCARS DON'T have a category for "Best Location Portraying Multiple Roles." If it did, SUNY Maritime College (N.Y.) might have a lock on the award. The new Warner Brothers film The Departed spent several days filming at Maritime in August. Because of its unique characteristics, Maritime was used to portray the Massachusetts Police Academy, and its Pentagon sally port was the backdrop for an academy graduation scene. (The sally port connects the five-sided Fort Schuyler building to another part of the campus.) A firing range was erected along the wall of the athletic building wall for another scene, while the campus' central boat bay doubled as a police headquarters conference room. The film stars Matt Damon as a gangster who has infiltrated the Boston police department, while co-star Leonardo DiCaprio plays a policeman who infiltrates the mob.

Last year, New York Gov. George Pataki signed into law the Empire State Film Production Credit Program to give tax incentives to feature films and television shows that do most of their filming in the state. The program makes Maritime especially attractive to budget-conscious producers.

Diane Zapach, director of public relations at Maritime, says location scouts for Robert DeNiro and Steven Spielberg have expressed interest in filming at Maritime. "This is great publicity," she says. "The revenue generated by campus location rentals is also of great benefit, especially in the summer."