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More information about the Paul Dano movie, For Ellen, became available last week thanks to the Watertown Daily Times. Filmmakers were in Massena, NY last month scouting locations and talking to locals about potential roles in the film.

The movie is about rock star returning to a small town to meet the 6-year-old child he fathered before attaining fame. Dano will play rocker Joby Taylor, Olivia Thirlby will play his girlfriend.

Cornwall, Ontario, native Jen E. Gatien is one of the producers and thought of the north country as a filming location after reading the script. “Having grown up here, I know what the winters are like,” Ms. Gatien said. “Very few films have captured that. There’s a lot of beauty here. I’m really excited about coming back to where I am from to make a film.”

The movie should begin filming at the end of January, beginning of February.

A new movie is being shot in Niagara Falls this month and its has some big name stars.

The cast and crew for the dramedy “A Beginner’s Guide to Endings” will be filming around the region for the next four weeks. The film stars Dennis Hopper, Tricia Helfer (”Battlestar Galactica”), JK Simmons (”Spiderman”) and Jason Jones (”The Daily Show”).

The movie has already shot a big boxing scene that used several local actors. The film’s stars have also been spotted out on both sides of the falls (U.S. and Canadian sides).

If you’re in Western NY and have an encounter with any of these stars, let us know in a comment below!

Keanu Reeves was spotted in Buffalo a couple of weeks ago scouting locations for his next project, Henry’s Crime, in which he is starring and acting as the executive producer. The movie is set to start filming in Buffalo next month.

But Henry’s Crime isn’t the only movie filming in Buffalo this fall. A Bollywood movie called After Life has been filming in the Buffalo and Niagara Falls areas. It’s a romantic musical that will be released internationally. “We had the bike scene where I’m riding the bike and actually this scene is my introduction scene,” Anita Galler, the star of “After Life” said. “It’s a love story, like a Romeo and Juliet with a little twist, so it’s a passionate love story.”

According to The OD, Utica’s going Bollywood:

Ilion filmmaker Michael Patrei will film a Bollywood-type dance number using local residents for a scene in his feature-length comedy, “Falling Frames.”

The scene is open to any who wish to participate in the filming at 1 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 4, in the parking lot across from the Tramontane Café, 1105 Lincoln Ave.

Those not participating in the filming, which will take all day, will be asked not to observe the filming, Patrei said.

Participants should expect Bollywood-style choreography, but shouldn’t be put off if they’re rhythmically challenged, he said.

“Anyone can be in it,” Patrei said. “When we go through the run-through, I’m going to rearrange people so that the people who are getting the dance moves will be in the front.”

Patrei welcomes all people in whatever they want to wear, but would love to see various groups and teams dressed in their uniforms.

“A different eclectic group of people really would work,” Patrei said. “The movie really is surreal, so it lends itself to that sort of zaniness.”

The film follows an actor who kidnaps the director of the film he’s a part of in order to force him to write a happy ending. After a few twists and turns, the film builds to the Bollywood dance number, Patrei said.

Most of the film has been shot locally – Utica, Ilion and Clinton — and is expected to be completed and submitted to film festivals early next year, Patrei said.

Patrei’s most recent film, “Ballou,” received national acclaim and attention by telling the story of a Washington, D.C., marching band seen as a beacon of hope in a high school riddled with violence and crime.

Patrei’s currently working on a documentary that recounts the history of Ilion, his hometown.
Visit www.ilionfilmcompany.com or www.balloumovie.com for information.

The Other Guys will be filming two separate stunt sequences in Albany beginning today. The first will take place from Sept. 23 to 28; the second will take place from Sept. 30 to Oct. 4.

Both stunt sequences will involve car chases, cars weaving in and out of traffic (with the other stunt cars to be driven by precision drivers), car crashes, and simulated gunfire, said Columbia Pictures

The movie stars Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg though neither star is expected on set.

For a full list of street closures, click here.

Three of the biggest movies filming in New York State this fall will actually be filming upstate, not in NYC.

News broke this week that the romantic comedy, Henry’s Crime, is scheduled to begin filming in Buffalo in November. Keanu Reeves will produce and star in the movie about an innocent man falsely accused of robbing a bank in Buffalo. Buffalo Niagara Film Commissioner Tim Clark confirmed that Reeves was interested in filming in Buffalo, adding, “I’m always very careful about these things until I see the trucks pulling into town, but I feel very confident that they’ll be here. A lot of details will be forthcoming.”

Albany is also getting another chance at the spotlight later this month. Earlier this year, Angelina Jolie filmed an action scene for the upcoming film Salt in downtown Albany. Now, The Other Guys, starring Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg, will film a few scenes in the state’s capital too. The movie’s stars won’t be in town though, they will remain in New York City where the majority of the film will be shot, but their stunt doubles and the most of the film’s crew will make the trip upstate for an action sequence. They are looking for extras from the Albany area to appear in the movie too. There will be an open casting call from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday at the Crowne Plaza, 40 Lodge St. Bring a photo if interested.

Finally, on Friday, Unstoppable, starring Chris Pine and Rosario Dawson, is filming at the Wayne Street crossing in Olean, NY on 9.11. Olean is in Western New York, on the border of New York State and Pennsylvania. Most of the movie will be filming around Pittsburgh through next month.

We’ve received several tips that there is actually a movie filming in Utica this week! Though there has been no coverage of the shoot in the local media, Facebook and Twitter have been buzzing with calls for extas and potential locations for the film. So far, we’ve heard film crews were spotted downtown, at The Tram and at the train station.

We’re assuming, due to the lack of security and formality surrounding the shoot, that this is just another student or low budget film so don’t expect to run into Bobby De Niro anytime soon.

If you know more about what’s filming in Utica, let us know in a comment below!

Everyone’s favorite will-they-won’t-they couple Jim Halpert (John Krasinski) and Pam Beesly (Jenna Fischer)are headed to Niagara Falls for their wedding this fall on NBC’s The Office.

Greg Daniels, the executive producer of The Office confirmed that director Paul Fieg was in the Falls last week to scout out locations for the wedding.

Maybe the wedding can make up for the closing of the Buffalo branch of Dunder Mifflin in last season’s finale. Asked why the Buffalo office was the one that was closed down, executive producer Paul Lieberstein (who also plays Toby) dryly said, “Sales were down. We had to close somewhere. We can’t close Utica. . . . It was really a toss-up.”

According to E!, they were filming next season’s third episode last week and the wedding will take place in episode four so it looks like they could begin filming in Niagara Falls as early as this week.

Academy Award winning director/producer Ang Lee and screenwriter/producer James Schamus will be in Woodstock on Saturday, August 8th with a special sneak peek of their new film, Taking Woodstock.

A screening of the movie will take place at 3:00 p.m. at Woodstock’s Tinker Street Cinema. Along with Lee and Schamus, Michael Lang, the long-time Woodstocker widely known as the key promoter of the August ‘69 Woodstock Music & Art Festival and a key character in the film, will be in attendance. A Q&A session will be held at the theater immediately after the screening followed by a special reception at Oriole 9.

Taking Woodstock is based on the memoirs of Elliot Tiber. The comedy stars Demetri Martin as Elliot, who inadvertently played a role in making 1969’s Woodstock Music and Arts Festival into the famed happening it was. Elliot found himself swept up in a generation-defining experience that would change his life – and popular culture – forever. Featuring a standout ensemble cast, and songs from a score of ‘60s musical icons including The Grateful Dead, The Doors, and Jefferson Airplane. The film also stars Dan Fogler, Henry Goodman, Jonathan Groff (as Michael Lang), Eugene Levy, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, and Imelda Staunton, with Emile Hirsch and Liev Schreiber.

Tickets for the event can be purchased here.

Last week, Demetri Martin, Ang Lee and Emile Hirsch brought Taking Woodstock, which was filmed in upstate NY, to the Cannes Film Festival. The movie follows a down-on-his-luck interior designer who moves upstate and inadvertently helps stage Woodstock on the grounds of his neighbor’s farm in White Lake, NY.