More and more productions are being filmed in Vancouver as Wolverine is back, kicking off what promises to be a busy film and television production year in B.C. AKA Hollywood North!
Australian actor Hugh Jackson was a familiar sight in Vancouver a few years back during the making of two mega-budget X-Men sequels in which he starred as the comic-book hero Wolverine.
The producers opted to film the prequel X-Men Origins: Wolverine, in Australia last year, but the production heads to Vancouver this week for two weeks of reshoots.
X-Men Origins: Wolverine hits theatres May 1.
One of the biggest projects heading to Vancouver this year is the new sci-fi TV series Defying Gravity, an international co-production to air on Canada’s CTV and Space channels, as well as BBC in the U.K. and other European broadcasters.
The first season starts six months of filming in B.C. mid-January.
Working under a SAG waiver is the $20-million 3-D thriller The Hole, filming last month in Richmond with director Joe Dante and producer, David Lancaster.
“We couldn’t afford to finance the film under the threat of a strike,” said Lancaster, whose cast includes Teri Polo. “The costs of suddenly having to stop would be too much to bear, everything is here (in Vancouver) — labs, equipment, multiple crews,” Lancaster says.
Crawford Hawkins, B.C. executive director of the Directors Guild of Canada, says production thrived in B.C. last year even as the Canadian dollar touched par with the U.S. greenback, so he’s expecting this year to be just as strong.
Hawkins and other B.C. film industry representatives headed to L.A. late last year to pitch B.C. locations to U.S. studios and producers.
One feature already confirmed for a Vancouver shoot is the 3-D sequel to 1982′s groundbreaking sci-fi adventure Tron, starring Jeff Bridges. The $150-million US sequel, which teams Bridges with newcomer Garrett Hedlund, is set to film here starting in April.
Complete article at: www.theprovince.com