Fall brings four new features to Vancouver

Vancouver – Lakeshore Entertainment, the makers of thriller Underworld starring Kate Beckinsale and Vancouver actor Scott Speedman, will bring its vampires and werewolves sequel to Vancouver in November. Screen Gems and Sony are also invested in the project, in which the original’s stars reprise their roles. Len Wiseman also returns to direct.

Lakeshore and the same partners will also bring north the ‘Untitled Exorcism Project’ (aka The Exorcism of Anneliese Michel), which could also start production in November. No production details were available at press time. The feature is cowritten and directed by Scott Derrickson (Land of Plenty).

Hollow Man 2, meanwhile, was supposed to go into production Oct. 18 for seven weeks, but that production date has been pushed, according to the B.C. Film Commission. The direct-to-video sequel, commissioned by Sony, does not include Kevin Bacon, who starred in the 2000 original big-screen feature about a scientist who becomes invisible. Scheduled director is Claudio Faeh (Coronado).

Anti-runaway production advocate and political wannabe Ben Affleck returns to Vancouver for the mid-October production of Man About Town, a DreamWorks production that is bound to get the Film and Television Action Committee in the U.S. up in arms. Written and directed by Mike Binder (The Upside of Anger), Man About Town tells the story of a top Hollywood agent whose life begins to unravel. Rebecca Romijn-Stamos (X-Men) costars.

Affleck’s last official trip to Vancouver was press-worthy not only for the production of Paycheck, but his evening entertainment choices that made a local strip club famous, apparently to the chagrin of then-fiancee Jennifer Lopez.

The new features bring about $100 million in new work to Vancouver. Ian Edwards