Kevin McKidd and Ashley Jensen: filming 'Indian Summer' in Scotland

Ashley Jensen and Kevin McKidd to film in Highlands

Ashley Jensen is to return to Scotland for a film role. Picture: Getty

A remote corner of the Highlands is hoping for an economic and tourism boost after being chosen as the atmospheric location for a new feature film.
Scots-born Hollywood stars Ashley Jensen and Kevin McKidd will be shooting love triangle drama Indian Summer on the Eriboll estate in Sutherland over the next few months.
The estate looks on to the vast ten-mile long sea loch, near Cape Wrath, where 33 German submarines surrendered in 1945.
The film, set during the “summer of love” in 1967, revolves around a new arrival in the close-knit community who is both a US Marine and a Native American and is described as being a “bittersweet romance”.
Grey’s Anatomy star McKidd and Jensen, who shot to fame in Extras and Ugly Betty, play the God-fearing husband and lonely wife whose lives are transformed by the “exotic stranger”.
The two Scots actors will be joined by Chaske Spencer, who is best known for his role as a werewolf in the Twilight vampire movies.
Read more at Scotsman

John Hannah: 'Ping Pong Summer' starts filming

'Ping Pong Summer' Starts Filming in Ocean City
Hollywood has hit the beach in Ocean City. Filming has started for the movie Ping Pong Summer. 

Stars like Susan Sarandon, Lea Thompson, John Hannah and more are in town for the film. Local actors were cast, including an Ocean City girl, Emmi Shockley.

The actors were ecstatic to be in Ocean City, some for the first time, all said it was a welcoming place with a unique sense of charm.

"It's crazy, there's so much character, so many funny places," said Thompson. "I love our hotel, I love the beach, I've been swimming and saw the dolphins this morning. It just seems like a really fun place with a small sense of community."

Alongside the big names on screen is local star Emmi Shockley, who is a 10th grader at Worcester Preparatory School in Berlin. She grew up in Ocean City and landed a lead child role.

"I am extremely proud that they would choose to film it here, and they are casting it in such a great light that it's awesome," she said. "And we'll be filming somewhere that I am used to, so it's so great."

The movie features iconic sites and businesses in the town: Trimper's Rides, Thrasher's, the boardwalk, and the Paul Revere Smorgasbord, to name a few.

Director and writer Michael Tully is a Maryland native. He said the movie's plot will in fact be based in Ocean City. 

"It will not just be another bland story that feels personal and universal but doesn't really have a unique pulse and Ocean City is embedded in that," he said. The movie hits home for him, because he went to Ocean City many of his summers as a child.

Filming will continue until the end of October. The movie is set to come out next year.

Source (with video): WBOC 

Also reported by Ocean City Today

Brian Cox: filiming "Bob Servant Independent"

 

The cameras were rolling in Milngavie earlier this week when stars of screen and stage descended on the town to shoot scenes for a new BBC comedy.
Bob Servant Independent will be shown on BBC4 at the beginning of next year and actors Brian Cox, Jonathan Watson and Siobhan Redmond were in town on Monday to film scenes for the show.

It was the second visit to Milngavie this year for the illustrious cast. Scenes for the first three episodes were shot in the town back in March. Now a further three episodes have been commissioned.

Bob Servant Independent, which stars Brian Cox in the title role, is about a pompous Dundonian businessman who is trying to become an MP for Broughty Ferry.

The character, created by Neil Forsyth, first appeared in the 2007 book ‘Delete This At Your Peril’. Most of the filming is done in Broughty Ferry, but on Monday the crew used Ashfield Medical Practice for a scene in a doctor’s surgery and Milngavie Primary School as a polling station for a local election. 

The show’s producer, Owen Bell, said: “Milngavie is a good double for us as it looks similar to Broughty Ferry. Filming is going well so far and it’s been fun.
“The last time we were in Milngavie everyone was very friendly so we thought we’d come back.”

Earlier this year the crew turned the former social work office in Stewart Street into an election headquarters to shoot scenes for the show. Popular precinct restaurant Cafe Alba also had a minor starring roll in the show - as producers asked them for a burger they could use as a prop.

Brian Cox (65) has starred in a number of Hollywood blockbusters, including Troy and The Bourne Identity.

Source: Milngavie & Bearsden Herald


Photograph Jamie Forbes, published on Friday 28 September 2012 

Indie film with John Hannah and Susan Sarandon set to film in Ocean City in September

Ping Pong Summer, an indie film starring Susan Sarandon, Amy Sedaris and John Hannah, is set to start filming for six weeks in Ocean City next month, the state announced last week.

The Maryland Film Office estimates that producers will hire 90 local crew, actors and extras, as well as purchasing and renting goods and services from 140 Maryland businesses. The economic impact: $2 million, according to estimates by the state.

The film is written and will be directed by Maryland native Mike Tully.

Here's the release from the state:

Governor Martin O’Malley today announced that independent film “Ping Pong Summer” will begin six weeks of filming in Ocean City in September. The coming-of-age comedy,  which is written and will be directed by Maryland native Michael Tully, is set in Ocean City during the 1980’s and is based on Tully’s annual vacations to the beach.

The film’s cast includes Academy Award winner Susan Sarandon (“Dead Man Walking”, “Thelma and Louise”, “Bull Durham”); Amy Sedaris (“Strangers with Candy”, “The Good Wife”); and John Hannah (“The Mummy”, “Four Weddings and a Funeral”).

Read more at The Baltimore Sun 

Also reported by On Location Vacations 

 

Gerard Butler: ‘Motor City’ will begin filming in Atlanta next month

A recent crew call for the upcoming movie Motor City confirms it won’t be filmed in The Motor City at all.

According to a recent posting on Georgia.org, Motor City will shoot in Atlanta from mid-September to early November.

Motor City stars Gerard Butler as an ex-convict tracking down the people who framed him to get revenge. Mickey Rourke is also in talks to star.

CL Casting is currently casting extras for the movie too. They recently posted a casting call looking for “males with longer hair.” You can check out all of their casting calls on Facebook.

Read more at On Location Vacations

James McAvoy & Jessica Chastain begin filming ‘The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby’

James McAvoy and Jessica Chastain have already been spotted in New York City where they are preparing to begin filming The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby next week.

According to a press release, the movie will explore “how a married couple in New York City deals with an emotional, life-altering experience, from two different perspectives.”

The film is already getting a lot of buzz because it will be split into a double feature in which the perspective of the husband (McAvoy) is seen in The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Him and the story of the wife (Chastain) is told in The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Her.

According to a post on Yahoo from one of the film’s location scouts, it looks like a portion of the movie will be shot in Nassau County, NY in August too.

These must be in Nassau County. For feature film, The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby, eight days in August, they’re looking for a colonial farmhouse, country, medium – large size, not a mansion. Reasonable property size.

Another post on Twitter indicates the movie will film scenes on the Brooklyn Bridge next week.

@RevRickshaws: RR has been hired by a production crew to help film next week a scene on the Manhattan Bridge for this film

Read more at On Location Vacations

Douglas Henshall - shooting murder in Shetland

Turning one of Ann Cleeves’ Shetland crime novels into a powerful two-part murder mystery for BBC One is now under way.

Acclaimed Scots actor Douglas Henshall, as well as Shetland’s own Steven Robertson and Sandra Voe are now in the isles for the 10-day shooting.

The TV drama Shetland, based on Ann Cleeves’ Red Bones, the third book of her Shetland Quartet, is being produced by ITV Studios for the BBC and due to be screened in November this year.

The production for prime time television is the most important Shetland has ever seen.

Filming has been taking place in Lerwick, Bressay and on board the ferry Leirna on Tuesday, and is due to move to Whiteness on Wednesday.

When the young archaeologist Hattie James (Gemma Chan) discovers a set of human remains, the island community is intrigued to know if it’s an ancient find or a contemporary mystery.

When an elderly woman is shot on her land in a tragic accident, detective Jimmy Perez (played by Douglas Henshall) finds himself at the centre of two feuding families whose envy, greed and bitterness has divided the surrounding community.

Perez is described as possessing a bone dry sense of humour and an idealistic desire to protect his beloved Shetland from inevitable change.

Read more at Shetland News

John Barrowman's TV pilot filming in Ipswich

Seaside Crane Estate is setting for period drama

A television pilot for a turn-of-the-century romantic drama has been filming at Castle Hill, the grand house at the Crane Estate in Ipswich.

A project titled "Gilded Lilys" has pulled an electrical permit from the town of Ipswich for film-related construction at the Argilla Road property.

According to various industry websites, "Gilded Lilys" is a television series being filmed for ABC and produced by "Grey's Anatomy" creator Shonda Rhimes. The period drama revolves around the opening of the first luxury hotel in New York City in 1895.

The 59-room mansion at Castle Hill was built in 1928 as the summer estate of Richard T. Crane Jr., who was one of the wealthiest Americans of his day. It was built in the style of a 17th-century English country house, with features that include a grand staircase, a rotunda with painted ceiling, a library with an intricately carved fireplace and views of a terraced lawn faced by rolling woodlands tapering down to the ocean.

Real-life romantic drama often takes place at the seaside mansion, as it's rented out for weddings.

Filming for "Gilded Lilys" is being done on a closed set, and the Trustees of Reservations, the nonprofit that owns the Crane Estate, has declined to comment on the project.

"There has been some filming in the Great House this week, but our agreement with the production company prevents us from discussing specifics," David Beardsley, Crane Estate director, said in an email to The Salem News Friday.

Last week, a half-dozen trailers and equipment trucks sat in the parking lot at Crane Beach, adjacent to the mansion. Yellow signs printed with "G L" directed extras and crew members in from Routes 1A and 133 in Ipswich and down Argilla Road to the property.

On Friday, a Trustees employee in the guard shack at Castle Hill said the house was closed for filming and kept the public from driving up the road that leads to the mansion.

Lighting, tents and equipment could be seen just over the crest of the hill near the house.

Castle Hill is no stranger to film crews. According to the Massachusetts Film Office, numerous projects have filmed at the Crane Estate, including "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past" in 2008, "The Next Karate Kid" in 1993 and "The Witches of Eastwick" in 1986.

"We're excited to be a key site for another production," Beardsley wrote in his email, "and we're pleased that we can help draw this kind of business activity to Massachusetts."

"Gilded Lilys" is filming in several Massachusetts locations this month. Blythe Danner and John Barrowman are among the actors said to be in the cast.

Source: EagleTribune 

Note for UK readers: I believe this is Ipswich, Massachusetts
~ helygen