Home grown: New Clooney film a 'Michigan made' product

By Kurt Anthony Krug Legal News Three weeks into filming, production of "The Ides of March"--a political thriller that's already being hyped up as an Oscar contender and opens today--moved to Michigan, where it was shot this past March and April in Detroit, Dearborn, Farmington Hills, Bloomfield Hills, and Ann Arbor. "Detroit's had it hard," said Oscar winner George Clooney ("Syriana"), who also co-wrote, co-produced, and directed "Ides," which is based on the play "Farragut North" by Beau Willimon, who worked as a writer for presidential hopeful Howard Dean. Clooney is no stranger to filming movies in Michigan. He appeared in 1998's "Out of Sight" (based on Bloomfield Village author Elmore "Dutch" Leonard's best-selling novel of the same name) and 2009's "Up in the Air." Clooney continued, "They lost a lot of the music industry, and they lost a lot of the car industry. And now they may be losing their film industry. I hope for them because they're going through a tough time right now." "Ides" was produced by Brian Oliver, the Oscar-nominated producer of "Black Swan" and president of Cross Creek Pictures. Oliver is also an entertainment lawyer who graduated with honors from the Whittier College School of Law in Los Angeles. "(Clooney) obviously knows the world of politics. He's proven that he's a phenomenal director and writer. And taking a world that he knows better than most and setting a thriller in that world is a very good fit," said Oliver. "This was a great piece of material. It has great dialogue and great thriller moments. It's a play on morality and what people will do or have to do to get what they want--and at what cost." Some prominent Michigan landmarks that can be seen in the movie include Marilyn's American Tavern in Detroit's Greektown, the Roberts Riverwalk Hotel in Detroit, Christ Church Cranbrook in Bloomfield Hills, the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and the Dearborn Inn in Dearborn. The airplane scene was filmed on a soundstage at Grace & Wild Studios in Farmington Hills. Paulette Czajka, director of event management at the Dearborn Inn, worked out some of the logistics between Clooney and the "Ides" crew when they filmed at the hotel. The scene in "Ides" where veteran PBS journalist and talk show host Charlie Rose (playing himself) interviews Clooney's character, Democratic presidential candidate Gov. Mike Morris, was filmed at the Dearborn Inn on April 9. "They set up on a Friday evening (April 8) and showed up Saturday morning (April 9). The crew was here until 4:30 p.m. The actors were here from about 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. to shoot this scene," said Czajka. "It was one of the last scenes shot for the movie. They were all ready to be in the party mode and have a little bit of fun afterwards." Czajka was excited to meet Clooney. "I was nervous as heck. He was very jovial, very fun. He seemed to have a good rapport with his crew. It was exciting. To now see the movie coming out, I'll be one of the first in line. "If it ends up getting an Oscar nomination, I can say I was a part of it," she said with a laugh. In addition to Clooney, "Ides" boasts an all-star cast of high-caliber actors, Oscar nominee Ryan Gosling ("Half Nelson"), Oscar winner Philip Seymour Hoffman ("Capote"), Oscar nominee Paul Giamatti ("Cinderella Man"), Golden Globe winner Jeffrey Wright ("Quantum of Solace"), Oscar winner Marisa Tomei ("My Cousin Vinny"), and Golden Globe nominee Evan Rachel Wood ("Thirteen"). The plot of "Ides" centers around Stephen Meyers (Gosling), Morris' young and ambitious press secretary whose career is starting to take off. However, the idealistic Meyers unwittingly gets involved in a political scandal as he falls prey to backroom politics and the Machiavellian manipulations of Tom Duffy (Giamatti), the campaign manager of Morris' political opponent. To add fuel to the fire, Meyers has an affair with an intern named Molly Stearns (Wood). Not only could these events destroy Meyers' career, but also Morris' campaign for the White House. "The movie is about Ryan Gosling's character. He starts the movie, he ends the movie, he's in every scene," said Clooney. "At the beginning, he's smart, the best at what he does, on top of the game, the one everybody wants. By the end of the film, the rug gets pulled out, and he's even better at his job than he was before--and all it costs him is his soul." Published: Fri, Oct 7, 2011

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