Monday, December 27, 2010

A role for Michigan in star-laden 'Avengers'?

Dec. 27, 2010

It looks like Michigan will play a supporting role in “The Avengers,” a hotly anticipated movie starring some of the biggest names in Hollywood as a team of Marvel superheroes.

Last week, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and Marvel Studios announced that the project would be filmed primarily in New Mexico, which is one of Michigan’s main rivals in using tax incentives to attract movie productions.

But further down in the New Mexico press release, there was some good news for Michigan — the word that “parts of the film will also be shot in New York and Michigan.”

A spokeswoman for Marvel confirmed today that the information in the press release is accurate.

Beyond that, it’s easier to convince Thor to get a crew cut than it is to find details about Michigan’s involvement in the upcoming superhero adventure.

The Michigan Film Office said this in a statement: “Michigan has the diverse locations, talented workforce and infrastructure necessary should ‘Avengers’ decide to shoot here in the state. However at this point our office has not received an application for the project.”

The movie will be the biggest feature film ever made in New Mexico. Pre-production has started and filming is set to begin in April. Its expected release date is May 2012.

“The Avengers” will be directed and written by Joss Whedon of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” fame. It will star Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man, Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner (the Hulk), Chris Evans as Captain America, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye, Scarlett Johansson as the Black Widow and Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury.

Michigan recently was the site of filming for part of another potential blockbuster, “Transformers: Dark of the Moon,” which shot scenes earlier this year in downtown Detroit.

Freep

No comments:

Post a Comment