As production moves forward with "Wichita," the upcoming spy flick starring Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz set to film in Boston this September, the latest rumor is that crews are currently hashing out an elaborate water-based chase scene slotted to be shot on the Charles River and will involve closing down several landmarks along the way including a bridge or two.
If the rumor is true and the scene is approved, the chase sequence would top some of the more sophisticated scenes from Boston's film past.
For example, the opening sequence of the Kevin Spacey flick "21" follows young prodigy Ben Campbell (played by Jim Sturgess) making the trek across the Mass. Ave. Bridge to Cambridge and features breathtaking scenes of the Charles and a birds-eye view of the MIT campus and the quintessential overhead shot of several rowing crews on the Cambridge side of the river.
Helicopters filmed the bike scene which caused a traffic snarl after closing the entire Mass. Ave. Bridge on April 22, 2007.
In "Wichita," Cruise is reportedly teaming up with Diaz in the flick directed by James Mangold. The actor will play a secret agent who pops in and out of the life of single woman, presumably played by Diaz.
Both Cruise and Diaz, teaming up together for the first time since "Vanilla Sky," reportedly have given a thumbs up to the final script, which recently underwent a rewrite by Scott Frank known for his work on "Minority Report."
"Wichita" will be the second made-in-Boston film for Diaz. The beauty stars as Norma Lewis in "The Box," slotted for release on Friday, Oct. 30. Directed by "Donnie Darko" filmmaker Richard Kelly, the thriller centers around a suburban couple with a young child who receive a simple wooden box as a gift, which bears fatal and irrevocable consequences.
Boston's South Street Diner, a throwback to '50s-style eateries and a Leather District landmark, is rallying for support to combat an attempt from neighbors wanting to roll back the restaurant's hours and force them to close at 2 a.m.
On Tuesday, July 7 at 10 a.m., the owners of the South Street Diner will face a hearing at Boston City Hall's room 809a. Organizers are asking for supporters to sign a petition here.
If late-night dining isn't your thing, support South Street Diner for its Hollywood in the Hub street cred.
Originally built in the 1940s to accommodate workers in the Leather District, the South Street Diner, located at 178 Kneeland St. was featured in an earlier scene of "21." The classic diner set the stage for Kevin Spacey and his students as they discuss their gambling strategy before heading to Vegas.
Formerly known as the Blue Diner, other big-screen appearances include "HouseSitter" with Steve Martin in 1992, "Second Sight" in 1989 with John Larroquette and "Hiding Out" in 1987 with Jon Cryer.
While the diner hasn't had a lot of screen time since "21," it was a pivotal hot spot during the recent barrage of flicks that were shot on South Street in Boston, including "Ghost of Girlfriends Past" with Matthew McConaughey and Jennifer Garner.
In the film, the Leather District was transformed to look like a Christmas wonderland in SoHo. In fact, set designers spent days putting up holiday decorations on lampposts, adding Christmas wreaths to shop doors and dropping fake snow on ground to simulate the season. There was even a larger-than-life Santa propped up near the South Street corner overlooking the makeshift set.
South Street Diner also served as a gathering spot during the week-long shoot for "The Surrogates," an upcoming sci-fi flick starring Bruce Willis. In the scene, offices were transformed into a futuristic salon called "Artiface" where the futuristic robots lined up for a makeover ... or better yet, a tune up. "The Surrogates" is scheduled to hit theaters on Friday, Sept. 25.
Click here to sign the South Street Diner petition.
Is Adam Sandler's made-in-Massachusetts movie "Grown Ups" being poised as next summer's first blockbuster comedic film?
The ultimate buddy flick, currently filming at Chebacco Lake and Centennial Grove located 30 Martin St. in Essex, has reportedly been moved from a March 12 release date to the more promising Friday, June 25 theatrical debut.
According to Variety here, the flick has the luxury of being the only film set for release the Friday before Fourth of July weekend in 2010. Other big-name releases like "Twilight: The Eclipse" and M. Night Shyamalan's "The Last Airbender" are scheduled to open on Wednesday, June 30.
"Grown Ups," set in Connecticut during a Fourth of July weekend, is a comedy about five high school friends who reunite with their families during the summer at a lake house after 30 years apart and stars Sandler, Kevin James, Chris Rock, Rob Schneider, David Spade, Salma Hayek, Maria Bello and Maya Rudolph.
As previously reported in Loaded Gun, a source says "Grown Ups" will splish-splash its way in August to Water Wizz of Cape Cod, a family-themed fun park located at 3031 Cranberry Hwy. in East Wareham. Click here for the latest on "Grown Ups."
--Eliza Dushku, co-star in the made-in-Boston drama "Valediction," jokes that "Dollhouse" creator Joss Whedon first plucked her off a street corner in Watertown to play Faith in the “Buffy” series.
"The film tax credit has worked here in Massachusetts. It would be really foolish of us to put anything into the legislation that would hurt that effort."
--After fear that the spy flick "Wichita" starring Tom Cruise would move production to Georgia, Rep. Ronald Mariano of Quincy says it's a good thing that Beacon Hill lawmakers and Gov. Deval Patrick decided not to move forward to reduce the cost of the state's film tax credit by $20 million.
"Given how enthusiastic Boston-area fans are for sports and just their energy, I think they're going to make a great crowd for this film."
--Mary McNally, a spokesperson for BeInAMovie.com, says the group's efforts to recruit extras for the made-in-Lowell flick "The Fighter" should be a knockout.
“I think it’s cool that they’re doing Topsfield casting. It’s a community thing.”
--Patricia Jamison, a resident of Topsfield who escorted her daughter, Parker, to the casting call for Brendan Fraser's upcoming "Furry Vengeance," says she appreciates that filmmakers are scouting locally for talent.
Brendan Fraser, known for his work in "The Mummy" series, is heading to the Boston area this month to film the family comedy called "Furry Vengeance,"a movie about a real estate developer who faces an unlikely group of protesters: a crew of local woodland creatures who don't want their homes disturbed.
Boston Casting held an open casting call on Wednesday, July 1 at Proctor Elementary located at 60 Main Street in Topsfield. Also, scouts are on the hunt for a body double for Fraser. If you're a dead ringer for "The Mummy" star, send an e-mail and headshot to ashley@bostoncasting.com.
Matt Prokop, an up-and-coming actor from "High School Musical 3: Senior Year," will play a city kid forced to move to rural Oregon with his father, whose efforts to build a housing development there are complicated by the feisty local wildlife. Newcomer Skyler Samuels has joined the cast as Amber, Prokop's romantic interest.
The flick is tentatively slated for a July 2010 release. Click here for the latest on "Furry Vengeance."
With a string of less-than-stellar Boston-crafted flicks hitting the big screen lately like "Bride Wars" and "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past," the trailer for the made-in-Massachusetts film "The Invention of Lying" by "The Office" creator Ricky Gervais looks like it may raise the bar a few notches for locally-shot comedic films.
Formerly titled "This Side of Truth,"the shot-in-Lowell comedy starring Tina Fey, Rob Lowe and Jennifer Garner is set in a world where no one has ever lied, until a writer seizes the opportunity for personal gain.
Slotted to hit theaters on Sept. 25, "The Invention of Lying" also had location shoots in Quincy, North Andover and Boston.
Actress Amy Adams is reportedly in negotiations to star alongside Christian Bale and Dorchester native Mark Wahlberg in the made-in-Massachusetts flick "The Fighter."
According to Variety, Adams is set to step in the ring as a gritty bartender from Massachusetts who ends up dating Wahlberg's character, "Irish" Micky Ward. Adams joins veteran actress Melissa Leo who is slotted to play Bale and Wahlberg's mother.
"The Fighter," which is scheduled to film in Lowell starting Monday, July 6, tells the story of Boston fighter "Irish" Micky Ward (Wahlberg) and how he was helped to the world lightweight championship by half-brother Dicky Eklund.
Bale, slotted to play fallen fighter Eklund who ends up in the slammer after a drug-fueled robbery spree, reportedly got into character on Tuesday, May 12 by shadow boxing Eklund on the streets of the Highlands section of Lowell.
On Monday, May 11, Wahlberg met with Eklund at the DoubleTree Hotel in downtown Lowell to discuss locations to film scenes for the Ward biopic. Relativity Media has stepped up to finance the film and Paramount Pictures plans to distribute domestically.
Adams will next be seen in Sony's "Julie and Julia" alongside Meryl Streep.
A just-for-men version of Oxygen's "Bad Girls Club" hitting reality TV? Yep. Casting scouts for the new Spike-TV reality show, "America's Biggest A**hole," are on the hunt for those who "have the charm of Vince Vaughn, Denis Leary and Stiffler rolled into one."
Ouch.
The crew over at Boston Casting is holding an open casting call 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday, July 13 at Boston Casting located 129 Braintree Street in Allston. They're also hosting auditions 6-9 p.m. Wednesday, July 15 at Red Sky located at 16 North Street in Faneuil Hall. Bring a photo and bio to the open calls.
According to the posting here, contestants will "win cash, fame and respect for their ability to say what mere mortals could only dream of saying."
Not sure if you qualify for reality TV's so-called "A" list? Ask yourself this: Even though some people think you're hysterical, do you happen to piss a lot of people off?
Organizers over at Be In A Movie are rallying the masses for a three-day shoot on the set of "The Fighter," the upcoming made-in-Lowell flick starring Dorchester homeboy Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale.
Producers are looking to fill ring-side seats during a big fight scene scheduled for 10 a.m.-5 p.m. from Tuesday, July 14 until Thursday, July 16.
According to the Web site here, anyone 16+ can sign up to throw their hat in the ring and score free grub, entertainment and a chance to win prizes during the day's activities.
The only caveat? These aren't paid extra positions, but it sounds like a great way to experience a day on a movie set while getting a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the industry as well as a bird's-eye view of the stars.
"The Fighter," which is scheduled to film in Lowell beginning in July, tells the story of Boston fighter "Irish" Micky Ward (Wahlberg) and how he was helped to the world lightweight championship by half-brother Dicky Eklund, played by Bale.
Loaded Gun spotted a "ZK" sign on Sunday, June 28 around the Symphony Hall area leading crews down Massachusetts Avenue toward Dudley Square.
Could it be preliminary filming for the upcoming made-in-Massachusetts flick "The Zookeeper," starring Kevin James and Rosario Dawson?
As previously reported, a majority of the scenes for "The Zookeeper" are slotted to be shot at Franklin Park Zoo located at 1 Franklin Park Rd. and the Stone Zoo in Stoneham.
Production is scheduled to kick off in July, confirms that there will be specific areas of the zoo that will be renovated, paid for by a donation made by the production company.
James, finishing up scenes at Woodman's of Essex with Sandler and crew for the ultimate buddy flick "Grown Ups," will play the title role in the film produced by Sandler's Happy Madison Productions. In "The Zookeeper," he plays a zoo caretaker who consults with the animals in an attempt to learn their methods of dating and mating to help him win back the woman of his dreams.
Adam Sandler, Cher, Jon Favreau, Sylvester Stallone and Judd Apatow have signed on as animal voices. The five reportedly will voice animals at the zoo where keeper James longs for his female love interest played by Dawson. Sandler will be the voice of a capuchin monkey while Cher is slotted to be a giraffe. Favreau has been cast as a bear, Stallone as a lion and Apatow as an elephant.
Based on the short story by Richard Matheson, "The Box" stars Cameron Diaz as Norma Lewis and James Marsden as Arthur Lewis, a suburban couple with a young child who receive a simple wooden box as a gift, which bears fatal and irrevocable consequences. "The Box" is directed by "Donnie Darko" filmmaker Richard Kelly.
A mysterious stranger, played by Frank Langella, delivers the message that the box promises to bestow upon its owner $1 million with the press of a button. But, pressing this button will simultaneously cause the death of another human being somewhere in the world ... someone they don't know.
Also shot in Virginia, filming locations for "The Box" include the Boston Public Library, Castle Hill in Ipswich and South Boston. The release date has been moved to Friday, Oct. 30 to coincide with Halloween.
Homegrown talent the New Kids on the Block paid homage to the legacy of Michael Jackson during their performance Thursday night in Detroit.
In a moving statement posted by NKOTB's Donnie Wahlberg here, he fondly remembers the icon. "Michael Jackson was, without a doubt, the single most amazing performer that I’ve ever seen," he writes. "As a young teenage boy with a dream, he was beyond inspirational."
Wahlberg continues, "The fact that his public/private life became a soap opera and a sideshow is more of a reflection of our societies misplaced priorities than it is a reflection of the type of person that he may have been. Yet despite all of that--the fact that his performances, even of even 25 years ago, still resonate today."
Want to spin the wheel? Casting scouts for "Wheel of Fortune" plan to park their 32-foot Wheelmobile next to Sears at the Solomon Pond Mall located at 601 Donald Lynch Blvd. in Marlborough on Saturday, June 27 and Sunday, June 28 from 1-5 p.m.
On both days, on-site registration will be open to the public and a select few registered applicants will be selected to play in front of a panel of casting judges. All registered names will be kept for a possible callback in the future.
As previously reported, letter-turner Vanna White was spotted shooting a commercial on the brownstone-lined West Cedar Street in Boston's Beacon Hill neighborhood in the early evening on Tuesday, May 12. White also shot some footage on Acorn Street in Charlestown.
The TV game show icon was in town shooting promos for three weeks worth of Boston-set episodes of "Wheel of Fortune" slotted to be shot at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center located at 348 D St. in South Boston. Taping at the Convention Center is slotted to begin Thursday, Sept. 3 until Saturday, Sept. 5.
Erika McCauley, the 37-year-old sister-in-law of Boston-bred comedian Dane Cook, has reportedly been charged with aiding her husband, Darryl McCauley, with stealing millions of dollars from the "national entertainer with local ties" over a year and a half period since July 2007.
McCauley, 43, who has been in charge of his half-brother's finances since the 1990s at Cook's company Great Dane Enterprises, allegedly forged a $3 million check at the Bank of America branch located at 100 Federal Street in the Financial District and transferred money from Cook's account to his account without permission.
The Attorney General's office launched an investigation two weeks before his arrest on Dec. 30.
Cook’s half brother and McCauley’s husband, Darryl McCauley, pleaded not guilty in March to eight counts of larceny and forgery.
Andy Husbands, the executive chef over at Tremont 647, reportedly made the cut in the upcoming season of "Hell's Kitchen" premiering on FOX at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, July 21.
According to an inside source, Husbands kept his participation on the down-low while filming season six with hellraiser Gordon Ramsay. Apparently, he spilled to his friends that he was in Mexico while taping.
Born and raised in Seattle, the restaurateur moved to Massachusetts with his father in 1984 when he was 14. After serving years as a sous chef at the East Coast Grill in Cambridge, he decided to open his own restaurant, Tremont 647, in December of 1996.
The 39-year-old, along with two other Boston-area chefs including David "Louie" Cordio from Fitchburg and Jim McGloin from Nashua, NH, was plucked from an open casting call held on Sunday, Oct. 12 at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel and Towers located at 50 Park Plaza.
Husbands, the acclaimed author of "The Fearless Chef," is rumored to have had a tumultuous time while filming the reality show. But, we'll save the bloody details for later.
"Make sure you watch me be an asshole on national TV!"
--Joey Rozmus, a 22-year-old tattooed rocker from Lawrence and guitarist with the band Late Nite Wars, tweets about his bad-boy antics on the premiere episode of "Real World: Cancun," which includes a hook-up session with a girl his first night out.
“It’s about this young couple and they have a 6-year-old daughter, seemingly in a coma, but [they learn] she’s actually alive and fully living out in her brain, but is just in this locked-in state. So he’s trying to have his daughter wake up from this traumatic experience.”
--Eliza Dushku gives the lowdown on "Valediction," the made-in-Boston flick co-starring "Chronicles of Narnia" actor Ben Barnes.
"Hollywood has come to me.”
--Cindy Lentol, an actress originally from Quincy, says the recent onslaught of movies filming in Massachusetts keeps her busy.
"In an age when facilities are shuttering or reducing staff, it's great to be in a position to expand our bicoastal facilities and tap veteran talent."
--Brian Drewes, co-founder of the Boston-based Brickyard Filmworks responsible for the special effects work in "The Proposal" and currently-in-production "The Surrogates" starring Bruce Willis, taps industry veteran Marc Saedghi.
“The fact that they’re both proceeding ahead is a vote of confidence in the future of the industry in this state."
--Nick Paleologos, the executive director of the Massachusetts Film Office, says the news that SouthField Studios in Weymouth is accepting tenants is promising.
Adam Sandler, Cher, Jon Favreau, Sylvester Stallone and Judd Apatow have signed on as animal voices in the upcoming made-in-Massachusetts flick "The Zookeeper," starring Kevin James and Rosario Dawson.
The five reportedly will voice animals at the zoo where keeper James longs for his female love interest played by Dawson. Sandler will be the voice of a capuchin monkey while Cher is slotted to be a giraffe. Favreau has been cast as a bear, Stallone as a lion and Apatow as an elephant.
As previously reported, a majority of the film's scenes are slotted to be shot at Franklin Park Zoo located at 1 Franklin Park Rd. and the Stone Zoo in Stoneham.
Production is scheduled to kick off in July, confirms that there will be specific areas of the zoo that will be renovated, paid for by a donation made by the production company.
James, currently filming scenes at Woodman's of Essex with Sandler and crew for the ultimate buddy flick "Grown Ups," will play the title role in the film produced by Sandler's Happy Madison Productions. In "The Zookeeper," he plays a zoo caretaker who consults with the animals in an attempt to learn their methods of dating and mating to help him win back the woman of his dreams.
Production crews plan to shell out major money to spruce up the Franklin Park Zoo, with renovations and landscaping slotted to benefit the non-profit zoo for extended period even after the production is done.
Loaded Gun Boston reader Craig Rabe says "he noticed that the production crew for 'The Zookeeper' has taken over a large part of the middle of the zoo to create a set." Rabe confirmed with a zoo official that designers "are spending at least the next six weeks building the set," with design beginning in late May.
A release dates is tentatively scheduled for Oct. 8, 2010. Click here for the latest on "The Zookeeper."
Time to whip out the lobster bib. An inside source says that Adam Sandler's currently-in-production buddy flick, "Grown Ups," will film this week at the historic seafood restaurant Woodman's of Essex located on 121 Main Street off Route 133.
Founded in 1914, the restaurant is known as the birthplace of the fried clam, a classic created by Lawrence "Chubby" Woodman over 95 years ago. Crews have closed down the restaurant on Monday, June 22 and filming is slotted to continue until Friday, June 26. According to the source, it's a night scene in the restaurant and crews will have a tarp over the building during filming.
Sandler and his "Grown Ups" entourage including Kevin James and Salma Hayek coupled with his former "Saturday Night Live" cohorts including Chris Rock, Rob Schneider, David Spade and Maya Rudolph are currently filming in Essex, a Cape Ann town near Gloucester which will continue throughout the summer. Also, the cast will film at Water Wizz in August as a break from production in Essex.
According to Woodmans.com, “The torrential rain predicted for the next few days has caused many people, including Hollywood, to do some last minute rescheduling. Woodman's of Essex was contacted early this morning and asked by producers if they could start setting the stage tonight. Originally the restaurant had planned to close their doors in early August.”
"They needed a spot to do some indoor shooting in order to stay on schedule. It was short notice for sure and we've been scrambling all morning," Maureen Woodman said on the Web site. "But we figure it is better to close on three rainy days in June than three nice days in August even if we don't have much lead time."
Meanwhile, RPM Casting is looking here for last-minute extras for the scene filming on Tuesday, June 23 until Thursday, June 25.
Click here for the latest on "Grown Ups." Also, follow Woodman's of Essex on Twitter here.
Jackson Rathbone, the bad-boy actor known as Jasper Hale from the "Twilight" franchise, plans to film a dark, offbeat feature flick called "Girlfriend" in Boston this September.
According to MTV News here, the feature is a "harsh, modern-day take on the 'Beauty and the Beast' fable" set in Middle America that thrusts Rathbone into a bizarre love triangle.
Rathbone reportedly met writer/director Justin Lerner during the Sundance Film Festival in January where they decided to produce the flick together. The duo are gearing for a four-week shoot in Boston in September, working around the "Twilight" actor's commitment on the third edition of the Stephenie Meyer franchise called "Eclipse."
Scouts are currently casting the flick's other roles--including Rathbone's female love interest.
A hearing is scheduled Tuesday, June 23 on Beacon Hill to discuss a bill that some may consider to be for the birds.
Turns out that a pigeon breeder from Plymouth and State Rep. Michael J Rodrigues is proposing a bill that if a bird is going to be in a movie made in the Bay State, that pigeon must be banded and licensed within Massachusetts.
Pigeon breeder Bill Desmaris from Fall River spilled to the Herald that many of the made-in-Massachusetts flicks he sees boasts pigeons--especially the recent flicks that transform Boston into NYC.
Desmaris convinced Rodrigues to propose a bill to the joint committee on environment, natural resources and agriculture.
"If you have something really nice, you don't want someone bringing in something really awful and destroying it," Desmaris tells the Herald. "We want to be proactive. We don't want to contribute to the wild pigeon population."
Guess birds of a feather shouldn't flock together. Click here for the complete proposal.
Bad boys finish first? Steve Santagati, a Tewksbury native and the real-life inspiration behind the Gerard Butler character in the upcoming flick “The Ugly Truth,” believes so and is on a mission to inspire men to be men again and women to be pro-active in the romance department.
His story inspired the film “The Ugly Truth,” hitting theaters on Friday, July 24.
In the flick, Katherine Heigl from “Grey’s Anatomy” is Abby Richter, a romantically challenged morning show producer whose search for Mr. Perfect has left her hopelessly single. She's in for a rude awakening when her bosses team her with Gerard Butler’s Mike Chadway, a hardcore TV personality who promises to spill the ugly truth on what makes men and women tick.
Click here for more info on Santagati and here for the lowdown on the "The Ugly Truth."
Ben Barnes, known for his role as Prince Caspian in "The Chronicles of Narnia," was filming scenes for the psychological thriller "Valediction" at Malden Memorial Hospital on Friday, June 19.
According to a Loaded Gun Boston spy, crews have transformed the old hospital with Christmas decorations. Barnes was filming scenes with the daughter who is hospitalized after a tragic car accident.
"I was so curious what the LIF signs were then I just went up to a crew member and asked," reports Jonna from Medford, adding that Mel Gibson filmed scenes for "Edge of Darkness" at the same hospital. "It's nice having actors/actresses in your own backyard."
In the film, Barnes finds himself fighting for his daughter's life. It turns out that the pieces of the puzzle that will save her lead him to discover it's actually his life that he's fighting for. For the record, co-star Eliza Dushku is back in Los Angeles filming the second season of "Dollhouse."
Last week, crews transformed Whiskey Park into a holiday scene on Tuesday, June 9 and Wednesday, June 10.
Hollywood in the Hub is buzzing over the latest rumor that the upcoming spy flick starring Tom Cruise called "Wichita" may be heading to Boston as early as September. Sources say that 20th Century Fox is gearing for a summer 2010 release.
Cruise is reportedly teaming up with Cameron Diaz in the flick directed by James Mangold. According to Variety here, the actor will play a secret agent who pops in and out of the life of single woman, presumably played by Diaz.
Both Cruise and Diaz reportedly have given a thumbs up to the final script, which recently underwent a rewrite by Scott Frank known for his work on "Minority Report."
"Wichita" will be the second made-in-Boston film for Diaz. The beauty stars as Norma Lewis in "The Box," slotted for release on Friday, Oct. 30. Directed by "Donnie Darko" filmmaker Richard Kelly, the thriller centers around a suburban couple with a young child who receive a simple wooden box as a gift, which bears fatal and irrevocable consequences.
The race for Boston's first multi-use movie studio heats up with the latest news that developers from SouthField Studios in Weymouth are ready to start accepting tenants for the project.
Allan Kassirer, a principal at International Studio Group (ISG), tells the Patriot Ledger they're opening their doors to groups ranging from special-effects companies to costumers to fill up the 600,000-square-foot space.
"We would start signing up tenants today," Kassirer says here. "We're ready to begin leasing."
According to a mock-up here, the front-lot-set streets of SouthField Studios will be sourced from historic Boston City locales. In fact, the set is a dead ringer for any brownstone-lined street in the South End or Back Bay neighborhoods. It's Beacon Hill ... without the hill.
The proposal continues, "These highly detailed facades will allow companies to shoot key exterior scenes in a controlled environment that includes publicly-accessible restaurants and shops to enhance the authenticity of the streets."
A Hollywood East stand-in for Boston? Yep.
As previously reported in Loaded Gun, the plan to build a multi-use movie complex will include 10 to 15 sound stages, production offices and more than 125,000 square feet of retail and office space.
The new studio, which needs to undergo state environmental review, could serve as a post-production facility for the slew of filmmakers currently taking advantage of the state's low tax credit.
Similar to the online push from Plymouth Rock Studios that ultimately passed as a $422 million deal with minimal opposition, SouthField Studios launched an aggressive campaign here with construction slated for the summer and an opening slotted for the fall 2010.
In addition, SouthField Studios Boston will also feature an interactive film and TV tour in the heart of the town center for residents and guests. Think Universal Studios ... minus the rides.
Armed with its Boston facade front lot, this multi-use complex would be an ideal space for filming ongoing Boston-set TV series like TNT's "Bunker Hill" pilot starring Donnie Wahlberg and the ABC pilot "See Kate Run."
Click here for the latest on SouthField Studios Boston.
Duncan Jones, the 37-year-old son of rock icon David Bowie and an up-and-coming film director, admits that his indie, sci-fi flick “Moon,” hitting theaters on Friday, June 19, is a bit of an oxymoron.
“There’s a reason why ‘indie’ and ‘science fiction’ are rarely seen in the same sentence,” he says during a recent visit to Boston’s Liberty Hotel. “Sci-fi by its very nature often demands the biggest productions values, and, as you can imagine, that’s the hardest thing to achieve with an indie budget.”
In the film, astronaut Sam Bell (played by Sam Rockwell) is living on the far side of the moon, completing a three-year contract with Lunar Industries to mine Earth’s primary source of energy, Helium-3. With only a few weeks left of his stint, Ball is looking forward to leaving the isolation of the moon base “Sarang” and reconnect with his wife and daughter back home.
After a near-fatal accident on a moon rover, Bell wakes up by the base’s well-intentioned computer “Gerty” (Kevin Spacey) and a younger, angrier version of himself, who claims to be there to fulfill the same three-year contract Bell started all of those years ago.
Jones, formerly known as Zowie Bowie, chats to Loaded Gun Boston about the complexities of making “Moon,” the pitfalls of his celebrity lineage and why there’s no place like Boston.
LOADED GUN: How difficult was it creating a sci-fi flick on an indie budget? JONES: Massively difficult. We knew ahead of time that we wanted to make something that didn’t look like an indie flick. Because of background doing commercials in the UK, I wanted to use many of techniques I used in commercials, especially the most cost-effective ones, and make something that didn’t look like an indie film. The budget for the film was around $5 million and you consider a film like “Sunshine” was made for $50 million, it gives you a sense of scale.
LOADED GUN: How important was science when crafting this film? JONES: We tried not to bog the film down with science, but there’s some truth behind it. There’s a book by Robert Zubrin called ‘Entering Space’ about how humans may be able to expand across the solar system and colonize the moon and Mars and do it in way with some fiscal viability. One of the ways he says that would make colonizing the moon viable is Helium-3 mining. His idea is that it could be used as fuel for cold-fusion in the future.
LOADED GUN: Sam Rockwell was imperative from a casting perspective. How important was it to cast Kevin Spacey as the voice of ‘Gertie’ in the film? JONES: With ‘Gertie,’ there’s an obvious homage to HAL (‘2001: A Space Odyssey’), but I wanted to take it in an entirely different direction. What I loved about Kevin Spacey and his voice in particular is that you get this sort of slickness and almost malevolence to it, but with what we do with the character, it doesn’t necessarily go in a direction you would expect it to.
LOADED GUN: As a filmmaker who happens to be David Bowie’s son, do you try to distance yourself from your celebrity lineage? JONES: With my name, there are things I could have gotten away with and shortcuts I could have taken, but I’m glad I didn’t. When you’re a teenage boy and you know you could get away with things if you wanted to, it’s hard to stick to it especially if you see others doing so with a similar background. There was definitely a frustration when I was a teenager, but I got through it and I’m glad I didn’t take those shortcuts.
LOADED GUN: Any plans to shoot a film in Boston? JONES: I literally have been here a day (laughs). But, I was walking down the street to the park and was surprised by how little I recognized from film. If I lived here, I would be shooting here all the time. Boston has so many things to show and it has all of the things I love about New York and London--the architecture, the little winding streets and the pubs. It’s a fantastic city.
Want to give Howie Mandel a run for his money? NBC's "Deal Or No Deal" is holding an open casting call at the Seaport Hotel located at One Seaport Lane on Saturday, June 20 from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m.
Boston Casting is on the hunt for "high-energy, dynamic and competitive men and women to audition" for the chance to snag $1 million dollars. The only rule? You must be over 18-years-old to apply.
In July 2007, Canton native Charlene Tonioli beat out 10,000 Bostonians to earn the chance to film an episode of the popular NBC game show. After some serious prodding from her 4-year-old son Ayden, Tonioli gave the show a shot.
Click here to become the next Boston-area contestant on "Deal Or No Deal." Our advice to those lucky enough to make the cut? Take the suitcase and run.
In the made-in-Boston film "Valediction," Eliza Dushku plays Ben Barnes' lover and not the daughter as previously reported in Loaded Gun Boston. The father is married and cheats on his wife with Dushku.
The premise of the film? When a car accident leaves a father fighting for his daughter’s life, his journey for the pieces of the puzzle that will save her lead him to discover it's actually his life that he is fighting for.
As previously noted, Dushku and Barnes filmed exterior shots overnight on Friday, June 12 in the Post Office Square location known as 10 Liberty Square in the heart of Boston's Financial District.
Also, a scene from "Valediction" was filmed in a suite overlooking the waterfront at the InterContentinental Boston on Thursday, June 11. While Dushku was hard at work, her boyfriend Fox was walking through the lobby of the hotel.
Last week, crews transformed Whiskey Park into a holiday scene on Tuesday, June 9 and Wednesday, June 10.
"I was myself the entire time while we were filming. But I don't want them watching. Not all of it is appropriate. I don't even like them watching 'Hannah Montana.'"
--Emilee Fitzpatrick, a stunning 21-year-old waitress from nearby South Hamilton, says her stint on "Real World: Cancun" is anything but G-rated and it's off-limits to her younger siblings.
"I had a little bit more area to cover than Ryan did, so it was a little trickier for me. But I can talk about Ryan's penis if you want. I mean if I looked like him, I'd be naked all the time."
--Sandra Bullock muses that Ryan Reynolds, her on-screen partner in the made-in-Boston flick "The Proposal," has the goods to be naked all of the time.
"If you're auditioning, you want pouring rain, you want freezing weather. It makes the weak stay home."
--"American Idol" host Ryan Seacrest insists that the rainy weather during the reality show's auditions at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro is a good thing.
"It's a beautiful place, but you never know if there's going to be heat and hot water. I've had this dream that there's a tarantula on my bed. It's so vivid. I wake up and stand over my bed looking for it."
--Damien Fahey, host of the reality series "I'm a Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here!" and a Longmeadow native, says he's living the high life in Costa Rica compared to the show's rogues gallery of D-list celebs.
Hollywood East's first car casualty? Crews from Eliza Dushku's indie thriller "Valediction" were fast and furious while clearing the street surrounding the Post Office Square location known as 10 Liberty Square in the heart of Boston's Financial District.
Drivers with illegally parked vehicles like the one above, who ignored the parking meters wrapped with tape and a 6 p.m. filming permit, found that their auto was carted away from the "Valediction" set within minutes of the 6 p.m. call time even though, as one Loaded Gun Boston reader pointed out, the permits were folded over and difficult to read.
Looks like on the "Valediction" set, the show must go on ... with or without parking validation.
Ben Affleck, who recently wrapped filming the John Wells downsizing drama "The Company Men," is already scouting locations for the Charlestown-based flick "The Town," an adaptation of the blue-collar heist novel "Prince of Thieves" by Chuck Hogan which was written for the big screen by Peter Craig.
A Loaded Gun spy says Affleck was "walking around the streets in the North End (Hanover, Salem, Cooper, etc), scouting possible shooting sites for his film."
The source continues, "Apparently, he was holding the camera and taking the photos of the potential locales himself. He also was kind enough to talk to the various people who walked up to him and even had the time to have his picture taken with them."
The homegrown talent will write, star and direct in the film following a bizarre love triangle involving a crook, a female bankteller and a FBI agent.
Graham King, producer of recently shot "Edge of Darkness" starring Mel Gibson, plans to make a return trip to the Hub with Affleck's "The Town."
Click here the latest on Ben Affleck's "The Town."
Sam Baltrusis is currently a freelance editor/writer based in Boston where he's a field coordinator for Povo.com and an instructor for Mediabistro.com. Baltrusis also contributes to various regional publications including Boston Spirit Magazine and Bay Windows. Follow me on twitter.com/loadedgun.
Loaded Gun, a Boston-based pop culture blog, has unveiled its bi-weekly newsletter called Loaded Gun Insider. Sign up here and register for a slew of Hollywood East-inspired prizes including DVDs of made-in-Boston films. Click here for the official rules.
As production moves forward with "Wichita," the upcoming spy flick starring Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz set to film in Boston this September, the latest rumor is that crews are currently hashing out an elaborate water-based chase scene slotted to be shot on the Charles River and will involve closing down several landmarks along the way including a bridge or two.
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