X3 marks the spot

Vancouver – The third chapter in 20th Century Fox’s X-Men franchise will begin shooting at Vancouver Film Studios on Aug. 2. Currently running with the title X3: X-Men, the film will reunite cast members Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry and Patrick Stewart, with Kelsey Grammer (Frasier) and former soccer star Vinnie Jones joining the fold.

With a reported budget north of US$100 million, X3 is produced by Lauren Shuler Donner and Ralph Winter and coproduced by Ross Fanger, all veterans of X2, which also shot in B.C. Brett Ratner (Rush Hour) will helm, replacing Matthew Vaughn, who recently evacuated the director’s chair for ‘personal’ reasons. Simon Kinberg (Fantastic Four) and Zak Penn (X2, Electra) wrote the script.

B.C. film commissioner Susan Croome says the province is happy to have the mutants back in town.

‘It’s a good credit for us; they employ lots of local people and the producers are wonderful to work with,’ she says.

Production on X3 is scheduled to run to Dec. 15. Dustin Dinoff

New Line’s Truth wraps in the Peg

Winnipeg – New Line Cinema’s Nothing But the Truth wrapped production in Winnipeg in mid-June. The feature comedy from director Christian Charles (Comedian) has a reported budget of around $15 million and stars Ryan Pinkston (Bad Santa) as a boy who must go to great lengths to cover the lies he has told to achieve popularity. Craig Kilborn (Old School) and Carmen Electra (Baywatch) also star.

Mark Canton and Bernie Goldmann, both of whom served as producers on George A. Romero’s latest, the Toronto-shot Land of the Dead, are producing. Yoni Berkovitz and Tony Dreannan share the screenplay credit. Dustin Dinoff