Forest Whitaker, Meg Ryan, 50 Cent and Ashley Tisdale to shoot movies in Grand Rapids soon

By John Serba The Grand Rapids Press
October 01, 2009, 11:44PM


GRAND RAPIDS -- Forest Whitaker, Meg Ryan, 50 Cent and Ashley Tisdale will be shooting films in Grand Rapids soon.

They will star in three different productions being shot consecutively starting in November, said movie producer Randall Emmett, who brought "Caught in the Crossfire," an action film starring 50 Cent (real name: Curtis Jackson), to Grand Rapids in May.

"Curtis and I fell in love with (Grand Rapids)," Emmett said while in town Thursday to scout locations. "There's no traffic, the locations are convenient and everybody bent over backwards for us."

He added, with a laugh: "It's like I work for the Grand Rapids tourism board when I'm in Los Angeles,."

"The Gun," an action movie starring 50 Cent, is scheduled to shoot in November.

Tisdale, of "High School Musical" fame, and Ryan ("Sleepless in Seattle," "When Harry Met Sally") will film "Sleepless Beauty" in December.

Whitaker and 50 Cent will co-star in a remake of "Jekyll and Hyde," to roll in January with director Abel Ferrara ("Bad Lieutenant").

Whitaker, who won an Oscar in 2007 for portraying dictator Idi Amin in "The Last King of Scotland," visited Grand Rapids last year, speaking at Grand Rapids Community College while campaigning for President Barack Obama.

Emmett, who has produced more than 50 movies, including "88 Minutes" and "Righteous Kill," said he has another two or three productions on his slate he'd like to shoot locally, one of them potentially with action star Jean-Claude Van Damme.

On Thursday, Rick Hert, director of the West Michigan Film Office, took Emmett and three other producers to the former Lear Corp. seating plant, 2150 Alpine Ave. NW, which will likely be used as a soundstage for the films.

"They were just gushing about the 200,000-square-foot facility. Then they saw the building with 300,000 square feet and 45-foot ceilings, and their jaws hit the floor," Hert said. "The spot just resonated with" Emmett.

"We were speechless," Emmett said.

"It's as big as a Warner Bros. backlot. It's a phenomenal space."

"Caught in the Crossfire," a crime-drama/action film in which 50 Cent played an informant and Adam Rodriguez ("CSI: Miami") and Chris Klein ("American Pie") played detectives, shot for three weeks in May.

The movie, written and directed by East Grand Rapids native Brian Miller, had a production budget of less than $1 million, and is currently in post-production.

Emmett said the plan is to submit it to the Sundance Film Festival, and eventually put together a local benefit premiere screening.

Currently shooting in the Holland area is "What's Wrong With Virginia?," starring Ed Harris and Jennifer Connelly, and directed by Oscar-winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black ("Milk").

"The Genesis Code," which features Ernest Borgnine, Louise Fletcher and Fred Thompson," shot in the Grand Rapids area in August.

"Tribes of October," with Robert Duvall, James Caan and Ray Stevenson, was scheduled to film in DeVos Place this fall, but the production has been delayed until 2010.

The film will be directed by Philippe Martinez, who shot "The Steam Experiment," starring Val Kilmer, locally last year.

Emmett's plan to bring so many films to Grand Rapids prompted Hert to quip: "The dam just broke.

"'Crossfire' was a good test for them," he said. Emmett "went back to L.A. and said that this is the place to be."

Hert added there's no doubt all of this action is a result of Michigan's 42 percent tax incentive for film productions.

However, with state legislators currently struggling to balance the budget, they're considering trimming the incentives to a lower percentage.

"Obviously, I hope they leave it alone," he said.

"These movies will have a positive impact on Grand Rapids. It's all about jobs and the economy."

E-mail John Serba: jserba@grpress.com

http://www.mlive.com/entertainment/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2009/10/forest_whitaker_meg_ryan_50_ce.html

Michigan moves from cars to stars

Incentives turning state into Midwestern Hollywood

The incentives program has also triggered plans to build or expand four studios in and around Detroit. "Without new studios and the creation of a whole infrastructure, I would not consider the program a success, because we are looking at the long term," Lockwood says. Furthest along is a $75 million project to convert a shuttered 22-acre General Motors complex in Pontiac into a multistudio facility. Backed by Michigan shopping-center magnate Alfred Taubman, William Morris Endeavor topper Ari Emanuel and others, the deal closed in early June. Named Raleigh Michigan, it will be managed by the Hollywood studio whose name it bears: Raleigh.

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Lockwood locks up Hollywood productions - Shout out to the Code

By KATHY A. MCDONALD

Michigan's status as flyover country is quickly changing. The state's year-old production incentive program has lured Hollywood types, and its film commissions have risen to the task.
First stop is the Michigan Film Office, led by Janet Lockwood, which reviews scripts and approves incentive applications. "Michigan does not have to play Michigan," advises Lockwood. "We play the world."

She adds that two fulltime location scouts are on staff and available for up to two days of free location scouting anywhere in the state.


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Michigan tax credit courts film industry to lure money, jobs

By Sharon Silke Carty, USA TODAY

DETROIT — In downtrodden Michigan, the hot topics for conversation in the past six months have been such depressing subjects as bailouts and bankruptcy, layoffs and plant closings, even the disappointing Stanley Cup playoff loss by the NHL's Detroit Red Wings.
So it's been a relief lately to have something else for people to buzz about: celebrity sightings.

We're not talking the D-list: Stars have included George Clooney, Drew Barrymore, Al Pacino, Clint Eastwood, Edward Norton and Hillary Swank.

The gypsy-like movie industry, which roams from place to place to find the best locations — and best deals — has taken a liking to Michigan in the past two years. That's thanks in part to generous tax incentives that give the entertainment industry a refundable business tax credit of up to 42% for production costs spent in the state.

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Six flims wrap, 12 in the works

Michigan’s film incentives are bringing productions to our state in record numbers. Here’s what has “wrapped” so far this year:

“Betty Ann Waters” starring Hillary Swank in Ann Arbor. Directed by Tony Goldwyn.
“Hopeful Notes” – Red Future Entertainment, LLC
“Oogie Loves in the Big Balloon Adventure” – Big Balloon Adventure Movie, LLC
“Moments in Terror” (Discovery Channel) is currently filming in the metro Detroit area.
Productions that will begin shooting this year:

“20 Percent Fiction” – Deco Entertainment, LLC
“Fitful” – Fitful Film Associates, Inc.
“Little Murder” – Cine Grande Films
“Motor City Motors” – Original Productions
“Mulligans” – Dean River Productions
“Power of Few” – The Power of Few, LLC
“Rape: A Love Story”, based on novel by Joyce Carol Oates and starring Samuel L. Jackson
“The Bass Master” – Fish Whistle Productions, LLC
“The Genesis Code” – American Saga Productions, LLC
“The Letter” – The Letter, LLC
“Thief Of Hearts” – Thief of Hearts, LLC
“Tribes Of October” – Philippe Martinez Production One, LLC

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Films in production in Michigan - August 2009

In Production in Michigan

Daisy Tells a Secret - One of Us Films, LLC
The Next Great Mission - 45 North Productions, Inc.
Flipped - East of Doheny
Wooden Boats - Wooden Boat Productions, LLC
Jump Shipp - Dot&Cross, LLC
Trivial Pursuits - 3,4 Women Productions
Meltdown - Meltdown Productions, LLC
The Genesis Code - American Saga Productions, LLC
Red Dawn - Wolverine Productions Delaware, LLC

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Independent Movies Employing Michigan Workers

So the GOP film incentive detractors in this state constantly use the false rally point that we are just “giving tax breaks to Hollywood Millionaires”. However, what their naive minds cannot really comprehend is that a vast majority of the productions going on right now in Michigan are smaller, independent movies headed up by “small business” men and women who are true entrepreneurs. That’s right, the exact type of people that the GOP claim these tax incentives hurt the most. However, if they just took a moment to actually talk to people in the industry instead of irresponsibly speculating, they might for once get a clue.

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