CALGARY (CP) -- Life imitating art has left a local film producer wondering what to do with his movie on biological terror.

Bruce Harvey, producer of the Alberta-made film Anthrax, said recent real-life events have made the work even more compelling.

"If I had just dreamed this up out of my head it would have seemed like a coincidence," said Harvey. "Fiction was involved but it was based upon a lot of fact. To see these events happening, I was not really surprised but saddened."

The $2.5 million production about the lethal potential of the anthrax bacteria was originally set to be released in theatres mid-fall and to run on television within about a year.

Worries about biological warfare after the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States -- and the death of a Florida man from anthrax exposure -- have put Harvey in a moral dilemma over whether it's a good idea to rush the release of the film to TV.

"I hoped the film could be a cautionary tale, to do a piece of entertainment which makes people think and debate the issue," he said.

"But you have to be careful not to sensationalize or capitalize on others' misfortunes."

Harvey said Anthrax "in the end is really just a movie" with a premise as timely today as it was when production began two years ago.

"That's one reason I did the film," he said. "All these issues are still here. Unfortunately bioterrorism will be around for a while. It just seems so big right now."


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