It’s frequently said that not much doubles for South East Asia, apart from the Asian South East. One very cheap and cheerful emerging option for all your Vietnamese, Philippine, Thai, Lao, Indonesian and Malaysian needs is Cambodia, as Transformers and Two Brothers have established.
Istanbul evokes Agatha Christie mysteries, sinister strangers trawling the souks and over-friendly carpet sellers. A little cynical perhaps, but I was surprised to find Istanbul has morphed into the Capital of Cool. I was surprised to find an innovative hub where cutting-edge design sits side by side with ancient traditions.
The bat has come to Nottingham; specifically Wollaton Hall, a 16th Century Elizabethan mansion in the city. Christopher Nolan’s third Batman project is rumoured to have been filming in locations all over the UK, but Wollaton Hall is the first UK location commented on by the production team.
Brad Pitt’s zombie thriller World War Z will be casting for extras this weekend for a shoot in Falmouth, Cornwall, south-west England. The story is set in Philadelphia, but Glasgow will be doubling for the Pennsylvania city in August and filming has already taken place in Malta.
When you're the Executive Producer on films with budgets that routinely hover around the USD150 million mark, you expect to get a lot of messages. For the first 20 minutes I spend with Kevin de la Noy on a wet Friday afternoon in west London, he gets a phone call every 40 seconds.
Lawmakers in Alaska have launched a grant scheme to fund local crew training, while also making moves to extend the state’s incentive programme. Despite hardly lacking in topographical wonders, Alaska’s been a relative newcomer when it comes to attracting outside film interest.
Location filming figures in Los Angeles levelled off in the second quarter of 2011 against the same period last year. Commercial production fell by nearly 8%, while only five feature films shooting in the city took advantage of the state tax credit, compared to 16 in the same period in 2010.
A delegation of Bollywood producers is visiting Israel to scout filming locations, meet industry personnel and attend the Jerusalem International Film Festival (JIFF). They were invited by the American Jewish Committee’s Project Interchange, designed to improve ties between Israel and India.