As we speculated and now MLive has confirmed, Bruce Willis has joined the cast of 50 Cent’s next movie, Setup, which will begin filming in Grand Rapids, MI on Nov. 28 for about four weeks.
The movie’s writer and director, Mike Gunther, said the story is about “a diamond heist gone awry” and will feature a major car chase and shootout sequence expected to take place in downtown Grand Rapids.
“We’re going to shut down a major intersection, and blow some windows out,” Gunther said at a press conference. “The whole scene takes place right in the middle of rush hour traffic.”
The scene is scheduled to be shot on Friday, Dec. 13 in the afternoon, and will involve storefronts near Ottawa Ave and Monroe Center.
The movie is being produced by Cheetah Vision, the production company formed by Curtis ’50 Cent’ Jackson and Randall Emmett, which recently landed a new 10-film, $200 million investment deal in October, with all films to be distributed by Lionsgate.
“The minute we signed that deal, we positioned ourselves to bring this movie to Grand Rapids,” Emmett said. “It’s definitely the biggest movie we’ve brought to Michigan,” he said of Setup. “It’s similar to Gun, but bigger. You’ll be seeing us a lot more all over the city.”
Emmett also recently opened Grand Rapids Films and Service, a company to aid film productions with locations, equipment and other services, earlier this year. He said he’s likely to film two or three more movies in Grand Rapids next year, including The Freelancers, which is casting now for shooting in March with “another A-list actor.”
As we reported last week, there is also another film currently looking for crew members in Grand Rapids. House of the Rising Sun will be shot in G.R. from Nov. 30 to Dec. 21 and will star Amy Smart, Dominic Purcell, Dave Battista, Danny Trejo, and Craig Fairbrass. If you are interested in joining the film’s crew, you can direct your resume to Lance Johnson (Lancecantdance41@yahoo.com).
If you spot House of the Rising Sun or Setup filming in Grand Rapids, let us know about it at olv@onlocationvacations.com!
