September 17th, 2008 at 3:01 am by Laff at the Movies under Entertainment
Duvall to Direct and Star in TV project that will shoot scenes in West Michigan
UPDATED 9/17/08 4:00pm: Contrary to reports on other media website, Duvall is *STILL COMING*
… as per my original report… Robert Duvall is coming… and to add… he will be shooting mostly interior scenes, and some exteriors, that will all depend on the weather…. as the movie is set along the U.S.-Mexican border.
James Caan will be in West Michigan, providing he is in the scenes shot here, but that’s still up in the air !!!
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Original report 9/17/08 3:01am: Another project attracted by Michigan’s film incentives is a TV miniseries with a working title of “La Linea” (or “The Line”)… as in the borderline between the U.S. and Mexico.
Veteran actors Robert Duvall and James Caan are confirmed to be part of the project… Duvall will Direct and Star in the miniseries and Caan reportedly “begged” to be a part of the project after he heard about it.
Duvall has appeared in more than 75 movies and more than 50 tv shows and miniseries, his most recent tv miniseries project “Broken Trail” won 4 Emmys, and was nominated for 3 Golden Globes.
Caan may be best known to today’s audiences as casino operator Ed Deline from NBC’s “Las Vegas”… Caan has appeared in more than 60 movies and more than 30 tv shows and miniseries.
Jerry Zandstra from American Saga Productions says Duvall (more…)
September 16th, 2008 at 11:18 pm by Laff at the Movies under Entertainment
“Station House” editing and looking for a network
In August, we told you about a new reality TV series “Station House” that was filming inside the LaGrave Avenue fire station in Grand Rapids.
Now we know that crews have completed shooting the documentary about the lives of Grand Rapids firefighters.
Jerry Zandstra from American Saga Productions, the Production company behind the project says they have 3 pieces to put together… first, a promotional piece (which is done)… a background/demo piece that runs about 6 minutes that they will use to sell the documentary to the networks…. its expected to be finished editing on Friday.
Then, there’s the main piece, the “Station House”, a documentary that runs 90-95 minutes… they hope to have that complete by next month.
Zandstra says they are hoping for a mid-October Premiere for the documentary… and trying to work out something in conjunction with Loeks Theaters for a benefit to raise money for the firefighters.
The “Station House” documentary will be for TV and also released on DVD.
Producers are having initial discussions with multiple broadcast and cable networks, inlcuding CBS, ABC, NBC, Zandstra says FX and Discovery Channel are also “natural fits”.
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September 8th, 2008 at 9:55 pm by Laff at the Movies under Entertainment
A sad update today to the 1st movie project I started following back in April…. “The Fifth Mafia” movie will not be coming to Grand Rapids.
It was going to be the first movie shot in West Michigan since the April tax incentives offering movie makers up to 42%… but now, we have to report that “The Fifth Mafia” will NOT be filming here.
In an email that somehow slipped through my inbox over the weekend… Producers of the movie say: “Executives have decided to shoot our film in New Mexico… (they) would rather have come to Grand Rapids. …. Unfortunately, we have run out of good weather in Michigan. We are planning toshoot in Nov-Dec., and since we need to simulate a Guatemalan scene, we cannot do it at this time of the year in MI.” (more…)
