It has been 14 years since Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, one of the most beautifully-filmed movies in cinema’s history, mesmerized us all. The film made over $247 million worldwide and took home four Academy Awards including Best Foreign Language Film and Best Cinematography. Crouching Tiger fans then should be very happy to hear that the sequel, or more correctly prequel, to this epic love story is finally in the works.
Principal photography for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon II — the Green Destiny is set to begin in July 2014. Most of the movie will be filmed in New Zealand and at the Auckland Film Studios with the rest of the movie to be shot in China.
With the Oscars just a few weeks away, there’s much buzz in the film world about the 2014 nominees. Among the “best picture” contenders is partially-made-in-Virginia Captain Phillips, nominated for six Academy Awards. To share the exciting news of having Captain Phillips filmed in the state, the Virginia Film Office issued a press release on the movie last fall.
Directed by Paul Greengrass, the movie stars two-time Academy Award-winner Tom Hanks in the titled role and Barkhad Abdi (a first-time actor from Minneapolis) in the role of Muse, the leader of the Somali pirates. For his powerful portrayal of Muse, Abdi recently won the British Academy Award.
MovieMaker Magazine recently named New Orleans, Louisiana as the #1 small city for filmmakers to live and work in 2014. As if on cue, Jurassic World (Jurassic Park 4) and Terminator 5, both sequels to two very successful movie franchises, have chosen Louisiana as one of their filming locations.
What do Nightmare on Elm Street, American Horror Story, Home Alone, The Descendants, Scarface, Driving Miss Daisy, The Godfather, Charlie’s Angels, 500 Days of Summer, 13 Going On 30, Dan In Real Life, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Something’s Gotta Give, Before Midnight and Argo (the list goes on) ... all have in common?
Out of the many movies released in 2013, only nine have been nominated for Best Picture for the Oscars race in 2014. Among the few chosen is an indie film calledNebraska, shot on location partially in Montana, South Dakota, Wyoming.
On January 16, 2014, the The Montana Film Office announced that Nebraska, a drama/comedy directed by previous Academy Award-winner Alexander Payne (The Descendants), was nominated for Best Picture, Best Director (Alexander Payne), Best Actor in a Leading Role (Bruce Dern), Best Supporting Actress (June Squibb), Best Original Screenplay (Bob Nelson) and Best Cinematography (Phedon Papamichael).
Last fall, Beneath The Harvest Sky, an indie movie shot entirely in Van Buren, Maine (a small town with a population of approximately 2200), had its premiere at the Toronto Film Festival.
The reviews were unanimous among audiences and critics alike. Beneath The Harvest Sky was “heartbreakingly authentic” (Variety), “gripping and realistic” (Pretty Clever Films). It’s “an impressively mounted indie” that “offers a solid sense of place” (The Hollywood Reporter) palpably complementing the small, soulful Maine town where the movie was filmed.
Last year, we wrote an article about the making of the indie film Ping Pong Summer in Ocean City, Maryland, the beautiful, nostalgic beach town of my childhood.
Recently, Ping Pong Summer shared on Facebook that the moviewill have its world premier at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival to be held in January 2014 in Park City, Utah.
Filmed on location in Arkansas for 39 days starting on September 26, 2011, Mud was the largest film production to set up camp in “The Natural State.” When it opened at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival, the film received an 18-minute standing ovation.
Directed and written by Jeff Nichols, who grew up in Arkansas and was recently nominated for Best Director for the 2014 Indie Spirit Awards, Mud stars Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon, Tye Sheridan (The Tree of Life), and Jacob Lofland (a young actor also from Arkansas).
If you haven’t seen the Volvo Trucks commercial featuring actor Jean-Claude Van Damme this past week yet, you’re among the few who has missed it. As of today, the YouTube commercial has already wowed over 36 million viewers (posted online on November 13).
The clip leaves me breathless and in awe, as well as converting me into a bona fide Van Damme fan. Most importantly, should I ever need a commercial truck, there’s no question which one to buy.
After just one season, House of Cards was already nominated for nine Emmys. Even though the show is based and set in Washington, DC, only a few setting shots were filmed in DC. The rest of the production was filmed on a soundstage in Harford County as well as at locations in and around Baltimore City and surrounding counties.
Earlier this week, New Mexico Film Office Director Nick Maniatis announced that NBC's new TV series The Night Shift will begin filming in Albuquerque at the end of August. The Night Shift will employ over 100 local crew members and at least 300 New Mexico actors and extras per episode. Production is expected to continue through mid-November.
This is Part 1 of a two-part series on the filming locations of Water For Elephants.
Filmed in Tennessee (Chattanooga), Georgia (Chickamauga), and California (Los Angeles, Fillmore and Piru), Water For Elephants is a magical treat for the eyes. Everything about the film is beautiful, from the breathtaking cinematography to the film’s “biggest” and most memorable star Tai, who played Rosie, the elephant.
Have you ever thought about submitting your house to be in the next movie, TV show, or commercial? It’s a lot easier than you think!
With today’s advanced technology such as high def cameras and televisions, filming in a studio or on a soundstage is no longer as authentic or convincing to the sophisticated audience as it was a few years ago. More productions opt to film on location using real life homes, restaurants, shops, etc., as the settings for their movies.
