Halifax to finally fade in on Fade Out

This summer Halifax hosts the much-delayed Hollywood thriller Fade Out by writer/director Michael Christofer (Gia), starring Billy Bob Thornton, Milla Jovovich and Dylan McDermott. Principal photography is now scheduled for mid-July, with plans to wrap in September.

Thornton plays a screenwriter with a history of mental illness who begins to confuse reality with his scripts after his wife disappears.

The film was initially supposed to have rolled last June with Kate Beckinsale as the lead character’s wife, but when she backed out, production shut down for nearly one year. With Jovovich taking over the role, a start date of May was announced, but that has been pushed two months.

Geyer Kosinski, John Penotti and Fisher Stevens produce the Greene Street Films/Mobius Pictures feature, with David Bergstein executive producing.

The girls on the beach

Beach Girls has been summering in Nova Scotia. The 6 x 1 miniseries, starring Rob Lowe and Julia Ormond (Sabrina), began a five-week shoot in Chester and Crystal Crescent Beach May 16 for Lifetime Television in the U.S.

Lowe plays a widower who returns with his daughter to the fictional beachside community of Hubbard’s Point, where his late wife grew up and where he meets two of her closest childhood friends.

Edithe Swensen, Eric Tuchman and Elle Triedman penned the screenplay based on the novel by Luanne Rice. Additional cast includes Chris Carmack, Tyler Gallagher, Chelsea Hobbs and Adam MacDonald. Robert Greenwald executive produces with Alys Shanti.

Primal Scream pushed to fall

Primal Scream, a US$8-million horror feature from writer/director Albert Magnoli (Nash Bridges) that was supposed to shoot in New Brunswick this summer, has been pushed to the fall.

Phil Barone produces with Lawrence Garcia and executive producers Chris Bialek, Steven Gagnon and Elie Samaha. Moncton, NB-based Dream Street Pictures is the service producer.

From Florida-based prodco Gravity Entertainment, the horror flick about a prank that goes too far stars Sherri Saum (One Life to Live), Trent Ford (How to Deal), Stark Sands (Shall We Dance) and Charity Shea (Toxic).

The pic will be a fairly big production for the province, according to Dream Street principal Tim Hogan, who describes it as FX- and stunt-heavy. David Stump, who has worked on FX for a slew of Hollywood blockbusters, including the X-Men films and Mars Attacks!, will be handling DOP duties.