“We were shooting in St. Louis and Detroit, two cities that just got pummeled and I put an ad out in the paper asking if there were people who lost their jobs and if they wanted to be in a documentary about job loss.
“We said it was a documentary to weed out actors who were trying to sneak into the film. We had a startling amount of responses. I ended up putting 60 people on camera, 22 of which made the film. – Jason Reitman (Director)
The former Kmart Headquarters off of Big Beaver Road in Troy, Michigan once housed over 5,000 employees of the world’s largest retail company. Upon it’s opening in 1972, the sprawling 40-acre site put the sleepy farm town of Troy, Michigan on the map before the company merged with Sears and left for Illinois in 2005. Now the building will once again play a major role in the city’s history as the upcoming action move Red Dawn will finish off their three and half month long shoot inside the massive, vacant building during the week of December 7, 2009.
Troy has been a big winner in the recent movie production boom that has hit Metro Detroit and Michigan. The city has housed the main production offices for Red Dawn over the past half year and is also where all of the principle actors and crew are staying (near the posh Somerset Collection). The city was also home to most of the cast and crew during the filming of last year’s hit Gran Torino, while recently a famed Big Boy restaurant in city was a key location in the upcoming Jack Kevorkian HBO biopic You Don’t Know Jack staring Al Pacino.
So this past September the production of the Red Dawn remake; currently shooting throughout Michigan, shot several opening scenes for the move in Harper Woods. The scenes take place during a nighttime, high school football game (this is pre-invasion) and sets up many of the story’s main characters.
Flash forward two and half months, and the production has transformed the old Detroit Notre Damn High School Football Field into a refugee camp which is the setting for a major action scene in the movie (much like the original).
For some on set action, check out this video form local blog Detroit Funk
Here is more from the set of the upcoming Chris Eyre drama A Year in Mooring. The film is currently shooting in the Traverse City Area. You can find some behind-the-scenes photos and video here. The film is about a successful businessman who escapes tragedy by moving aboard a sailing vessel in a remote waterfront town.
Also the new David Schwimmer movie Trust has been shoting in Dexter, Ann Arbor and in Plymouth, Michigan. The movie is about a teenager who falls prey to an online sexual predator. Stars include Clive Owen, Catherine Keener, and Viola Davis. If everything remains on schedule, the film is expected to be released in 2010.
50 Cent’s movie company Cheeta Vision Films has inked a deal with Action Jackson Films to produce and finance 3-5 major films a year. The first planned movie is titled The Gun which was written by 50 himself. The movie will star 50 Cent and Val Kilmer (who have both shot a movie in West Michigan in recent months). Shooting will begin next month in Grand Rapids, Michigan with Jesse Terro directing.
50 and Cheetah Vision’s next project after The Gun will be a familiar drama, Jekyll and Hyde which will star Forest Whitaker.
So it appears as though the production of the Red Dawn remake has moved form Metro Detroit to Fitzgerald Park, in Grand Ledge outside of Lansing Michigan. The area is known for it’s rocky cliffs and picturesque setting.
The upcoming Josh Lucas drama A Year in Mooring is currently being shot in various locations in Northern Michigan. The film is about a successful businessman who experiences tragedy in his life and lives on a mooring boat.
This is the second moving actor Josh Lucus has shot in Michigan this year, this past Fall he shot the thriller Little Murder with Terrence Howard in Detroit.
Currently lensing in Detroit, Abel Ferrara has left Game of Death.Death is an action Bruce Lee remake that was set to reunite the acclaimed filmmaker with Wesley Snipes. It has not been released exactly why why Ferrara has left, only that the film will now be directed by Giorgio Serafini. What is also not know is if Ferrara wil still direct Jekyll & Hyde; starring Forest Whitaker and 50 Cent, which is set to lens in Grand Rapids, Michigan in January.
Here is more 
