Costner to play Browns GM in ‘Draft Day,’ Cleveland Shoot Planned

'Draft Day' to film in Cleveland,
feature the Cleveland Browns

Kevin Costner will return to the sports film genre, playing the GM of the Cleveland Browns in a new film titled Draft Day. The film will shoot in Cleveland, according to NBCSports Pro Football Talk and the Buffalo News.

The film originally cast Costner as GM of the Buffalo Bills, but because of Ohio’s lucrative film tax incentive, The Monticello Production Company and producer Ivan Reitman (Ghostbusters, Hitchcock) chose to relocate the film to Cleveland.

“At the end of the day, it was a money thing,” said Tim Clark, head of the Buffalo Niagara Film Commission, in the Buffalo News. “I think Reitman really wanted to shoot here, but it just came down to the cost factor. What we were told is that the Cleveland incentives were better.”

The Cleveland Film Commission could not comment on the news.

This could be good news for Cleveland sports fans. The last big movie to depict the slings and arrows of a Cleveland sports franchise was 1989’s Major League. A few years (six, to be exact), the Cleveland Indians wound up in the World Series and became a MLB powerhouse for several years after.

The Internet Movie Database lists the film as “In Development.” It also calls the film a comedy.

Comments

'Avengers Infinity War' coming to Cleveland? Movie studio built on old Geauga Lake property? Both possible say Russo Brothers

Ivan Schwarz, Greater Cleveland Film Commission, Joe Russo and Anthony Russo, Cleveland natives and Marvel directors. They didn’t share any Captain America: Civil War spoilers, but directors Joe and Anthony Russo told fans that Avengers: Infinity War could land in Cleveland. “It’s on the list,” said Anthony. The reveal took place Saturday during a Wizard World Comic-Con Cleveland panel titled Let’s Shut Down Some Streets: Bringing the Avengers, Captain America and the Russo Brothers to Cleveland. The Russos, who grew up in Cleveland and graduated from Case Western Reserve University, were joined by Ivan Schwarz, director of the Greater Cleveland Film Commission. The trio discussed how the region could grow its production slate and how it could attract more features to Northeast Ohio. The first step, said Schwarz, was getting the Ohio legislature to raise the motion picture tax incentive from $25 million a year to $75 million. That legislation will go before Ohio lawmake

Tina Fey, Jay Roach Bringing Kent State Film '67 Shots' to Ohio

Student protestors at Kent State in 1970 Tina Fey is taking a serious turn, producing 67 Shots , a film about the 1970 Kent State shootings. The movie applied for the Ohio Film Tax Incentive earlier this year and plans to film in and around KSU sometime in 2018. 67 Shots focuses on events that led up to the shooting deaths of four students by Ohio National Guardsmen. The title comes from the numbers of shots those guardsmen fired into the unarmed crowd of protestors. Fey is producing alongside Jeff Richmond, her husband and a Kent State alum. Jay Roach, best known for the Austin Powers and Meet the Fockers franchises, will helm the project. Roach is making more socially and politically aware films at this stage in his career, including Trumbo and Game Change . The film is based on the book 67 Shots: Kent State and the End of American Innocence and is adapted by award-winning playwright Stephen Belber. Fey and Richmond’s production company, Little Stranger, will join

'Walking Dead' star Emily Kinney joins 'Anhedonia' cast

Emily Kinney joins 'Anhedonia' Emily Kinney, perhaps best known for her role as Beth Greene on AMC’s The Walking Dead , is joining Anhedonia , the new indie feature from Cleveland’s Eric Swinderman and Carmen DeFranco. Kinney got her start on stage, with roles in Spring Awakening and August: Osage County , before transitioning to guest roles on television and a star turn as Emily on Showtime’s The Big C . Her breakout role would come as Beth Greene, Maggie Greene’s little sister, on The Walking Dead . Kinney became a fan favorite during a series of dramatic episodes in the series’ fourth season when Kinney’s Greene bonded with fellow survivor Daryl Dixon, played by Norman Reedus. Anhedonia co-stars Breckin Meyer and Giselle Eisenberg. "To have the opportunity to work with such an amazing actress like Emily is beyond exciting,” says Swinderman. “It's also very exciting for the city and people of northeast Ohio to have three huge TV stars coming to town to

Midwest Movie Maker

Search This Blog