'Social Network' moves on while Cruise continues

The made-in-Boston movie madness continues with three films shooting in Medford, Charlestown, Melrose and the Fenway Park area throughout the Halloween weekend.

Crews with "The Social Network," the partially made-in-Boston flick based on local author Ben Mezrich's tell-all book about the founding of Facebook in a Harvard dorm, will film a late-night scene kicking off at 3 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 29 at the Chevalier Theater located at 30 Forest St. in Medford.

When filming ends around 7 a.m. Friday, Oct. 30, crews with "The Social Network" plan to wrap in Boston and head to the Homewood campus of Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, Maryland. They'll set up on Sunday, Nov. 1 and shoot two scenes on campus beginning Monday, Nov. 2 and Tuesday, Nov. 3 between 6-10 p.m.

Meanwhile, the Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz spy flick "Knight & Day," formerly known as "Wichita," will close down the Fellsway in Melrose from Washington Street to East Border Road On Friday, Oct. 30 beginning at 6 p.m. until 7 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 31 featuring Diaz's stunt double. Meanwhile, the actress is rumored to be filming in Westwood on Thursday, Oct. 29.

Ben Affleck's "The Town" has wrapped in the North End and is filming scenes in Charlestown on the corner of Monument Square and Tremont Street next to the Bunker Hill Monument for the rest of the week. Word is that crews plan to return on Monday, Nov. 2 to Howard Johnson Boston located at 1271 Boylston St. where set designers transformed the Fenway Park hotel into the fictional Van Ness Motor Inn.

On Tuesday, Nov. 3 and Wednesday, Nov. 4, the blue-collar heist film "The Town" will return to Melrose where crews plan to film at a former MASSBank branch located at 476 Main St. and W. Foster Street.

Click here for the latest on all of the made-in-Boston film action.

Cruise's 'Wichita' planning elaborate bridge stunt

With a van blow-up scene involving fire slotted for Ben Affleck's "The Town" on Commercial Street across the Charlestown Bridge this weekend, crews with Tom Cruise's spy flick known as the untitled "Wichita" project plan to top the made-in-Boston action with an elaborate stunt involving a vehicle careening off of a bridge.

"They're doing a lot of construction in the center of Charlestown's Rutherford Avenue," says Rod T., a Loaded Gun Boston reader.

Filming is slotted for Saturday, Oct. 10 from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m, Sunday, Oct. 11 from 6 a.m to 1 p.m. and Saturday, Oct. 17 from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.

According to a memo sent to Charlestown-area residents, crews plan to shut down Rutherford Avenue from Sullivan Square to Austin Street during filming. Also, the sidewalks around the site will be closed off to all foot traffic.

The filming crew is slotted to set up a production area in back of Rutherford Avenue next to the fence along Spice Court.

The untitled "Wichita" project follows Cruise as a secret agent who pops in and out of the life of a single woman played by Diaz.

Principal filming for the made-in-Boston spy flick "Wichita," starring Cruise, Diaz, Paul Dano, Maggie Grace and Marc Blucas, kicked off on Tuesday, Sept. 15 at the Worcester Regional Airport.

This week, crews filmed scenes throughout South Boston including the Boston Fire Museum located at 344 Congress St. Beginning Saturday, Sept. 19, Cruise and Diaz filmed at the Parisian brasserie Gaslight located at 560 Harrison Ave.

The untitled "Wichita" project follows Cruise as a secret agent who pops in and out of the life of a single woman played by Diaz.

Click here for the latest on "Untitled Wichita Project."--Photo by Ryan Miner, Beantown Photo and Rutherford Ave. shot by Rod T.

Ben Affleck's 'The Town' casting in Charlestown

Calling all thugs with a Boston accent. C.P. Casting is holding an open casting call for Ben Affleck's "The Town" from 3:30 p.m. until 8:30 p.m. Friday, May 29 at the Charlestown Community Center located at 255 Medford Street.

Casting scouts are looking for men and women over 18 and they're seeking all types--bad guys, neighborhood folks, cops, detectives, wives, girlfriends and mothers. But scouts are specifically looking for locals with Boston accents.

Affleck, currently in town filming the John Wells downsizing drama "The Company Men," is already in pre-production 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.

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 lowdown on "The Town" casting call and here for the size card.

Donnie Wahlberg hits Hard Rock Cafe on Sunday

Dorchester native and "Bunker Hill" actor Donnie Wahlberg, on a brief hiatus from touring with with his New Kids on the Block bros, plans to launch his latest music venture, Donnie D Music Group at Boston's Hard Rock Cafe, 22-24 Clinton St. at 10 p.m Sunday, May 3.

Wahlberg will unveil DDM recording artist Jimmy Marsh to the masses at the launch party. Click here to RSVP.

Slotted to hit the "Today Show" on Friday, May 8 before going back on the road, Wahlberg has a string of shows lined up with NKOTB throughout the summer.

He's also waiting to get a greenlight for "Bunker Hill," the made-in-Charlestown TV pilot for TNT where he plays Mike Moriarty, a Boston cop determined to protect the streets he grew up on from crime and corruption. The native also acts and shares writing credits in the made-in-Southie flick "What Doesn't Kill You" which will make its Blu-ray debut on Tuesday, April 28.

Click here for the lowdown.

'Code of Silence' flick prepares for a knockout

Mike O'Dea, a Boston-based writer and actor who earned regional ink back in 2007 while shooting his low-budget flick "Townies," tells Loaded Gun that he's putting the finishing touches on the shooting script for "Code of Silence."

"The first draft took me so long, but as you know writing is not something you can put a rush on," he says, adding that the Boston Globe's City Weekly unveiled today an in-depth feature here. "Thank you for following and reporting on the progress of the movie."

"Code of Silence" follows boxer Mickey Callaghan with an extraordinary family legacy ... his father John Callaghan is a feared and ruthless Winter Hill crime boss.

In the Globe piece, the filmmaker says he's been scouting for Somerville-based locations including Kelly's Diner on Broadway in Ball Square for one scene and an apartment building at the top of Winter Hill.

O'Dea, who recently signed a deal with Michael Z. Gordon of My Own Worst Enemy Productions, says he moved the setting of the film from Charlestown to Somerville to avoid any confusion with Ben Affleck's upcoming Graham King-produced movie "The Town" and Donnie Wahlberg's currently-in-production pilot for TNT called "Bunker Hill."

He's hoping that Somerville will embrace his film.

"We had a lot of problems with the parents in Charlestown detesting the movie because of its violence," O'Dea tells the Globe. "And then, after the gunfire incident, it just felt like we completely burned our bridges . . . in every way."

Armed with a projected $4 million production budget, the made-in-Somerville Irish mob trilogy is slotted to be shot during a four-week stint in Somerville beginning on Saint Patrick's Day, March 17, 2009.

As previously reported in Loaded Gun, O'Dea is shooting for big-time actors for the film including Michael Madsen.

Click here for the latest on "Code of Silence."

'Code of Silence' flick shoots for Michael Madsen

Mike O'Dea, a Boston-based writer and actor who earned regional ink back in 2007 while shooting his low-budget flick "Townies," has approached actor Michael Madsen's reps for the mob boss role of "Fitz" in the upcoming made-in-Boston flick "Code of Silence."

"There are only several famous actors in the business that can pull off this specific role and Madsen is one of them," O'Dea writes here. "I guarantee you if Michael Madsen is cast in the film you will see nothing less than a Oscar-worthy performance."

Based on the YouTube film "Townies," the full-length feature is ... no surprise here ... part of an Irish mob trilogy slotted to be shot during a four-week stint in Somerville beginning on Saint Patrick's Day, March 17, 2009.

According to IMDB here, O'Dea moved the setting of the film from Charlestown to Somerville to avoid any confusion with Ben Affleck's upcoming flick "The Town" and Donnie Wahlberg's currently-in-production pilot for TNT called "Bunker Hill."

O'Dea, who recently signed a deal with Michael Z. Gordon of My Own Worst Enemy Productions, also changed the film's online domain from TheMostRealisticMobMovieEver.com to COSTrilogy.com because ... well ... "it's shorter" and "easy to remember." Go figure.

Click here for the latest on "Code of Silence."

More Irish mob filming with 'Code of Silence'

Mike O'Dea, a Boston-based writer and actor who earned regional ink back in 2007 while shooting his low-budget flick "Townies," has signed a deal with Michael Z. Gordon of My Own Worst Enemy Productions to produce "Code of Silence."

Based on the YouTube film "Townies," the full-length feature is ... no surprise here ... part of an Irish mob trilogy slotted to be shot during a four-week stint in Somerville beginning on Saint Patrick's Day, March 17, 2009.

Here's the plot from IMDB: Mickey Callaghan is a regular guy who grew up in Somerville, Mass. He heads his father's blue-collar company during the day and trains as a professional boxer at night. But his father John Callaghan is not so ordinary, he's a feared and ruthless Winter Hill crime boss.

O'Dea generated a lot of buzz back in Nov. 2007 when he filmed a shoot 'em up scene for "Townies" in Charlestown's Paul Revere Park without having the proper film permits. Police obviously thought the scene was the real deal.

According to IMDB here, O'Dea moved the setting of the film from Charlestown to Somerville to avoid any confusion with Ben Affleck's upcoming flick "The Town" and Donnie Wahlberg's pilot for TNT called "Bunker Hill."

Click here for the lowdown.