Hawaii Film Blog

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Solution to Runaway Production: Homebody Celebs!

Reese Witherspoon recently insisted that her latest project, "Rendition," be shot in Los Angeles instead of Toronto. The reason for her request was simple: she wanted to be near her family. The production complied, and the film will start shooting in L.A. next month.

The Hollywood Reporter today listed other examples of big stars keeping productions from running away to cheaper locales, like Julianne Moore and "Far From Heaven" (Toronto to NY) and David Duchovny and "X-Files" (Vancouver to L.A.). THR also claimed that Adam Sandler tried to shoot as much of the Hawaii-set and shot "Fifty First Dates" in CA as possible. While that may have been true, we also know that Sandler loves Hawaii and does try to bring projects out here.

There are also many examples of directors keeping productions at home (and thereby building their local film industries): Spike Lee, Woody Allen, and Martin Scorsese and NYC, Peter Jackson and New Zealand, Paul Thomas Anderson and the San Fernando Valley, and Robert Rodriguez, who took the money he earned from "Spy Kids" to build an Austin studio, complete with soundstages and post-production facilities, which later became the primary production site for "Sin City."


The moral of the story? If you wanna grow and sustain your local film industry, develop your homegrown talent.

>> Homebody actors good for California business [THR, 10/11/06]

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