A new film studio is being planned for construction in Shanghai through a deal between Beijing Enlight Media and Seven Stars Media. Hengdian World Studios is already established five hours’ drive from Shanghai, offering expansive sets and a replica of the Forbidden City in Beijing.
Actor Don Cheadle is doubling Cincinnati, Ohio, for a period New York in his upcoming film Miles Ahead, based on the life of jazz innovator Miles Davis. The actor, best known recently for his work in Marvel’s Iron Man franchise, will direct the film as well as star.
Filmmaker Gareth Edwards will shoot a spinoff Star Wars movie in the UK. Director JJ Abrams is already at work in London on Star Wars: Episode VII as the first in a new trilogy, but Disney/Lucasfilm is also planning a series of non-trilogy spinoff movies.
The pilot for new US drama series Knifeman is filming on location at West London Film Studios in the UK. Tom Hollander will play real-life 18th Century Scottish surgeon John Hunter in a story based on the biography The Knife Man: Blood, Body-Snatching and the Birth of Modern Surgery.
Kiefer Sutherland will film night scenes for his rebooted action miniseries 24: Live Another Day on location in Southampton this week. The new show is based in London but will branch out to DP World’s Container Terminal in the port city on England’s south coast.
Aaron Paul, star of the hit crime drama Breaking Bad, has opened the refurbished West London Film Studios in Hayes, along with studio owner Frank Khalid. The facility offers 105,000 square feet of studio space, including six stages and office space.
Ohio’s filming incentive programme has helped attract a biopic of the jazz innovator Miles Davis to Cincinnati. Iron Man franchise co-star Don Cheadle – also a talented saxophonist – will direct and produce Miles Ahead, and will also star as the famous musician.
John Travolta’s new thriller Criminal Activities will film on location in Cleveland, Ohio, after securing a filming incentive payment. Ohio offers a base filming incentive of 25% and recent high-profile features have included The Avengers and Captain America: The Winter Soldier.