HBO’s new TV feature Hemingway & Gellhorn filmed entirely in and around San Francisco, but the city doubles for locations around the world. It stars Clive Owen and Nicole Kidman and charts the true-life relationship between Ernest Hemingway and famous war correspondent Martha Gellhorn.
Filming incentives and flexibility with shoot locations were the main reasons why Marvel’s Avengers Assemble doubled Cleveland, Ohio, for New York City in the summer of 2011. The film - which now boasts the biggest cinema opening in history - is a huge boost for Ohio.
Saskatchewan in central Canada has proposed a new location filming tax credit. Its 45% refundable programme was cancelled in March as a cost-saving exercise, but the provincial Government has said that a non-refundable 25% tax credit will be launched in July 2012.
Filmmaker Ron Howard has spent part of this week filming his new Formula One drama Rush on location in Norfolk in the east of England. Different parts of Snetterton racing circuit near Norwich have doubled for racing tracks around the world as the film is set during the 1976 Formula One season.
The BBC is preparing for several weeks of cross-continental location filming in its TV series Planet Earth Live. Using crews around the world, live reports will be filed from seven different locations on five continents following the progress of animals including lions, black bears and macaque monkeys.
X-Men follow-up The Wolverine will film on location in Japan, Fox head Tom Rothman has confirmed. The story for the stand-alone feature is based on one of Wolverine’s classic Japan-set plotlines from the character’s comic book series, so a location shoot may make it feel more authentic.
Ohio’s filming industries are pushing for the state filming incentive to be renewed and improved as its expiry approaches as The Avengers rolls out to cinemas around the world. The hotly-anticipated comic book film shot partly in Cleveland, doubling the mid-western metropolis for New York City.
Arizona is in the process of reinstating the location filming incentive that was cancelled two years ago. The plan is to launch a 30% tax credit that will help make Arizona more competitive with neighbouring states, although there’s still intense opposition from conservative politicians.