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SHOOT: Japanese Monster Reboot GODZILLA Rampages Through South Nanaimo – Part 2

The 3D Japanese monster reboot Godzilla let spectators get closer for the Friday afternoon shoot in south Nanaimo on Vancouver Island of prop wreckage on fire in Godzilla’s wake and U.S. military extras rushing to the scene on the railroad tracks. Crew set on fire a burnout vechicle and downed helicopter and filled the air with smoke from smoke machines. But no Godzilla was sighted on set. 

Related: Japanese Monster Reboot Godzilla Rampages through South Nanaimo – Part 1

Read More »SHOOT: Japanese Monster Reboot GODZILLA Rampages Through South Nanaimo – Part 2

SHOOT: Japanese Monster Reboot GODZILLA Rampages Through South Nanaimo – Part 1

Look out Godzilla. USAF missiles are coming your way. The 3D Japanese monster reboot is rampaging through south Nanaimo on Vancouver Island today, filming scenes of a WRail train carrying missiles and dozens of military extras through prop wreckage in Godzilla’s wake, including a burntout vehicle and a downed helicopter.  Production started filming at the Cambie Pub in downtown Nanaimo on Wednesday with Aaron Taylor- Johnson spotted on set, then moved to Ladysmith yesterday for more prop wreckage on railroad tracks and prop traffic. I will write more about today’s shoot when it wraps. 

Related: Japanese monster reboot Godzilla turns Vancouver Convention Centre into airport terminal

Read More »SHOOT: Japanese Monster Reboot GODZILLA Rampages Through South Nanaimo – Part 1

SHOOT: GODZILLA turns Vancouver Convention Centre into Honolulu Airport Terminal – Updated

Update: “Earthquake Rocks Eastern Japan” says news crawl on set screen.

Japanese monster 3D reboot Godzilla with Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, Bryan Cranston, David Straitharn and Ken Watanabe from a script by The Walking Dead’s Frank Darabont has begun filming here and on Vancouver Island. Godzilla crew transformed the Vancouver Convention Centre into what looks like the [Honolulu International Airport in Hawaii] last weekend. And on Vancouver Island, crew transported WRail train cars and a locomotive from New Westminster to tracks near Shawnigan Lake and started filming in Nanaimo. Aaron Taylor-Johnson could be on set inside the Convention Centre but Bryan Cranston is not expected here until he wraps filming of the Breaking Bad series finale.

6.3 Earthquake Rocks Eastern Japan, says newsreel.

Read More »SHOOT: GODZILLA turns Vancouver Convention Centre into Honolulu Airport Terminal – Updated

WEEK: February 25 – March 3, 2013

BIG READ: Now that’s a MAN OF STEEL in the new Superman

Published November 4, 2011 on Vancouver is Awesome

Director Zach Snyder is so secretive about his new Superman movie that crew must check their cell phones before entry into Mammoth Studios in Burnaby and paparazzi had to climb trees in Ucluelet last month to catch glimpses of the filming.

So it came as a shock last week to see the Man of Steel himself and shirtless to boot on a big green screen set on the North Shore. Henry Cavill, the first non-American to play the iconic role of Clark Kent/Superman, is best known to me for playing Charles Brandon on The Tudors. While Brandon is a handsome rake he didn’t look buffed-up like this so kudos to Cavill and his trainer Gym Jones. These aren’t CGIed muscles as some of the abs in Snyder’s 300 are rumoured to have been.

Man of Steel filmed in the small town of Plano and the big metropolis of Chicago, Illinois, this summer before heading to Vancouver for the autumn to film mainly in studio. Local paparazzi haunted Mammoth Studios in Burnaby in the early weeks but only Russell Crowe was spotted on a smoke break dressed in Kryptonian costume as Superman’s father Jor-El. Crowe’s presence in Vancouver is well-documented by his almost daily workout tweets, like this one on September 24th — “24 km bike out to Horseshoe Bay. This place is beautiful” — and by his surprise appearance on stage with his Aussie pal Keith Urban at the country star’s Rogers Arena concert.

So where was Henry Cavill? August casting calls in Ucluelet and Nanaimo foreshadowed that the Vancouver Island west coast town would play an Alaskan fishing village and that a Nanaimo dive hotel would play an Alaskan loggers bar. Read More »BIG READ: Now that’s a MAN OF STEEL in the new Superman