George Clooney to film next movie in St. Louis

Mr. Clooney is coming to my stomping grounds, and if the opportunity arises, I'm seriously thinking about trying out as an extra for the film (word is they might need upwards of about 2,000 of them). So five months of possible Clooney sightings and the baseball All Star Game next year...I am so gonna be needing to be out and about the area next year...

From KSDK St. Louis website :

George Clooney to film next movie in St. Louis

KSDK -- George Clooney is coming to St. Louis to film his next movie.

The work begins in January when the crew will scout locations, begin building sets and do the hiring. Producers might need as many as 2,000 extras for the film.

It's called "Up in the Air," and stars Clooney along with actress Vera Farmiga.

Gary Hansen heads up the studio mechanics Local 493.

"'Up in the Air' is a really big deal for us coming to St. Louis," Hansen says. "It's a large movie. It's going to be a lot of employment for the members of 493."

Local film crews are ecstatic. This is a big budget film, by "Juno" director Jason Reitman. Production crews will set up shop on January 5 and they could be working here up to five months.

"It will make our year in an economy that's awfully sluggish and a lot of the commercials that we normally live off of aren't supporting our families," Hansen says.

They're not alone. Hotels, restaurants, and local businesses also stand to benefit.

"A movie like this, probably the economic impact could be as high as $50 million," says J. Kim Tucci, St. Louis Film Office.

Some filming will also be done in Miami and Las Vegas, but the bulk of shooting will be here and that will likely mean plenty of jobs, money and George Clooney sightings around St. Louis.

"I'm sure after your show after you put this on the air, people are going to be lining up outside figuring out how they meet George Clooney," Tucci says.

No answer to that yet, but Lambert Airport's closed D Concourse is one likely location for filming. The movie follows Clooney's character, a guy who lays people off for a living, on his mission to collect a million frequent flyer miles.

"It's going to be all over the city. They're going to have 85 different sets to dress in 50 days," says Hansen.

And local film crews say if all goes well with this movie, this could be St. Louis's big break. Apparently some last minute wrangling to get tax credits from the state, helped seal the deal.

Incidentally, this will be the third movie shot at Lambert in three years. A film called "The Lucky Ones" was shot in the summer of 2007. And in May they filmed "The Informant" there with Matt Damon.

Go for it, DK.

Absolutely, do it, Donna. It would be fun.

Donna,
You really really must do it because:
1) you will kick yourself later if you pass up this opportunity
2) This could be "THE BIG BREAK"
3) What a story to tell afterwards
4) I want to live vicariously through you...
5) You never know, George may be between girlfriends at the time...

Well, I'm not imagining I'll be becoming a bigtime actress or anything anytime soon. And while the girlfriend thing sounds intriguing, I doubt I'm his type. But it might be something fun to do.

Do it!!!! Do it!!!! Do it!!!!

how's that for peer pressure?

I'm waiting for the information as to where/if/when the casting call takes place (if it hasn't already). It's quite possible I've already missed the boat, as casting calls seem to take place some time before the movie is scheduled to be filmed. Since filming is supposed to start this month, my guess is that they probably already did the casting call months ago. I can't find any information.

Well then, go to a few of the filming sites and just stand there.

You know, just innocently.

They're supposed to be filming at the airport. I don't think that would go over too well.

You HAVE to have a boarding pass to get into the terminal area. I'm not buying a plane ticket just to sit in the airport.

Yes, please do come here so I can beat you with a wet noodle.

Soft, wet noodle? Hmmm ... okay. But no soy sauce please.

Sorry if George's next g'friend didn't work out for you, DK.

Well it looks like I missed my chance anyway....shooting starts TODAY.

I guess (as usual) I'm a day late and a dollar short.

They must have had that casting call months ago, yet I just found out about them even filming the movie here about two weeks ago. Since we're not CA or NY or any place like that, people aren't really looking for these things to come up, and as one who watches the news just about every day, I guess they just didn't publicize it enough. Still, five months of shooting here is supposed to bring a LOT of revenue into the city. It's a good thing, and you never know...I might spot Mr. Clooney around town. I work very near the airport.

They announced on the news this morning that the casting call for this movie is next Saturday and Sunday. Shooting starts on March 3 and runs through April. You have to be available for the entire time (though I seriously doubt they're going to need extras for that entire time...do they?).

YEAH DO IT!!

Do it. You know you want to do it.

peer pressure.

I would.

I will quote The Waterboy: "You 'kin do it!"

The casting call was last weekend and, unfortunately, I couldn't make it in person due to the weather. It's just as well...I don't know what these people were thinking, because they said they only expected about 1000 people. Come on! It's a freaking George Clooney movie! About 8000 showed up, and they had to turn several thousand away. If it had been me running the thing, I would not have had an open casting call like that. I would have had them mail in the forms and pictures, gotten them pre-screened, and THEN called people for personal interviews.

Ah well...there was the option to mail in your form and picture - which I did. So no one can say I didn't give it an effort. I'm not really expecting them to pick me, so I'm not gonna stress over it. It is what it is, and whatever will be will be.

That's a good attitude to have about it, DK!

Okay, so I found out that I got a hit on my personal website from West Hollywood - Touchstone Television. I was like, "why would a place like that be accessing my site"? I did a little bit of research, and it would appear they have done some of George Clooney's movies in the past. I don't know what label this new movie is going to be under, but it got me to thinking that maybe, just maybe, they're interested in my application as an extra and wanted more information on me. Either that, or it was just a web crawler or something.

Hey, you never know...

That is so cool, DK! I hope they contact you!

George Clooney is sure aint my cup of tea

ladyremi wrote:

George Clooney is sure aint my cup of tea

Good because I'm not a share-and-play-nicely-with-others type of person.

Best of luck, DK.

You can have him but you can't have Gerry! All mine!