The Walt Disney Concert Hall opened to great fanfare last October. The Frank Gehry-designed building, looking like a big silver sailboat, was destined to become a landmark, something that would put the city on the map, culturally and architecturally. There was a three-night opening gala with one night honoring Hollywood and the movies. Warner Bros. Pictures' "The Matrix Revolutions" became the first (and, so far, only) movie to have its premiere there.

Last week, the first movie to use the building as a backdrop released its trailer. But the irony is that the concert hall isn't playing itself.

"We use the Gehry building as a museum," confirms Beau Flynn, one of the producers of the movie in question, New Line Cinema's "After the Sunset," set for release in November.

The heist thriller, starring Pierce Brosnan and Woody Harrelson, opens with Brosnan's character stealing one of three diamonds from Napoleon Bonaparte's sword's hilt. In the sequence, Harrelson arrives at a museum with an armed escort, whereupon Brosnan, standing on a rooftop across the street, commandeers a vehicle by remote control and makes off with the diamond as well as a freaked out Harrelson.

Getting permission to use the concert hall wasn't easy. The film's executive producer, Patrick Palmer, says the production tried and tried to book the building way in advance and only succeeded in gaining permission when the production moved its days to accommodate the concert hall.

"First and foremost, this is a concert hall," says Catherine Babcock, director of marketing and communications for the Music Center of Los Angeles, which operates the Walt Disney Concert Hall. "And we need to be respectful of the Philharmonic, whose home it is, and the Los Angeles Master Chorale, who have busy rehearsal schedules. It's not that we can fulfill all the requests that come in."

The hall fields about 20-40 calls a month and has its own locations office. Its fees range from $2,500-$15,000 a day, depending on the complexity of the shoot and whether the shoot takes place inside or outside the building. Depending on whether exteriors or interiors are involved, a production is obligated to hire a number of union workers from the hall. The hall already has proved itself popular with TV commercials.

For the "Sunset" filmmakers, shooting at the Disney Hall didn't prove to be any more challenging than shooting anywhere else in downtown Los Angeles. But because the building was supposed to be a museum, one thing proved tricky. Flynn says: "We had to make sure we didn't shoot the 'Disney Concert Hall' words which are embedded there on the side. We also did fake signage."

Also challenging was a shot that required Brosnan to look over at the concert hall from a rooftop across the street. The rooftop was that of a courthouse, which denied the filmmakers access.

"We were turned away three or four times before finally we prevailed," Palmer says. The filmmakers agreed to shoot on a weekend so court wouldn't be in session, and they took care to minimize security and safety risks.

"It's harder today because of the security (concerns)," Palmer says. "The court systems don't want people in and out of their buildings like they used to."

Not so the Walt Disney Concert Hall, even if it's not playing itself.