Press Release - Tuesday, June 29, 2004
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Gov. Blagojevich announces full slate of summer films
CHICAGO, Ill.— Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich today announced four new films will be produced in Illinois and the Chicagoland area this summer. "Roll Bounce," "Intimidation Game," "Amityville Horror," and "Dee Dee Rutherford" are the movies slated for production this summer.
"We're excited to have four major productions filming in Illinois. Illinois is home to thousands of talented people on both the technical and creative sides of the film business," said Governor Blagojevich. "I congratulate our Film Office and members of the local industry for doing such a great job of marketing our state's assets to filmmakers across the country. In the past year, we've seen an increase of more than 200 percent in revenue generated from film productions in Illinois."
The summer productions that will be filming in the area are as follows:
- "Roll Bounce," Fox 2000, will be filming entirely in the Chicago area July through September. Producers are Bob Teitel and George Tillman who have a true commitment to Illinois, having already been responsible for Soul Food, Barbershop 1 & 2. This is a 1970's period film with roller-skating as a central element.
- "Intimidation Game," Warner Brothers, will be filming all of the exterior scenes for the new Batman film starring Christian Bale as the caped crusader and Michael Caine as his butler Alfred, in Chicago. Interiors were built on stage in England. Chicago will be standing in for Gotham in this version being directed by Chris Nolan (Memento) whose brother lives in Chicago. When the script called for an underground road he immediately thought of Lower Wacker, which brought the project to Illinois. The work has expanded to include the Amstutz Highway in Waukegan and various Chicago area locales for 15-plus days.
- "Amityville Horror," MGM, a re-make of the 70's classic, will be filming July through September in northern Illinois. Locations are still being determined but they will be in Illinois for the entire 40-plus day shooting schedule.
- "Dee Dee Rutherford," an independent film, is being directed by Chicagoan, Mike Meiner. It will be filming in the Chicago area through the month of June.
In the fall of 2003, Governor Blagojevich signed into law a new tax incentive designed to attract the film industry back to Illinois. The new law provides a tax credit equal to 25 percent of the wages paid to Illinois residents working on television and film projects shot in Illinois. In order to qualify, productions of 30 minutes or more will have to spend at least $100,000 on Illinois labor. Other, shorter film productions may also qualify for the incentive.
"Governor Blagojevich's tax incentive program has had a great effect on Illinois production and has been the key to increasing our marketability and success at bringing the film industry back to Illinois," said Jack Lavin, Director of the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. "I'm thrilled we are able to announce four films that will be in production in Illinois over the summer, which will have a direct effect on creating jobs and dollars for our economy."
"Since the legislation took effect, we have been able to attract 7 films to Illinois, compared to only one film last year, which is keeping our production and union people working and increasing the dollars spent in our state," said Brenda Sexton, Director of the Illinois Film Office.
For more information on productions and filming in Illinois, please visit our website at: http://www.illinoisbiz.biz/film/index.html
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