Fake snow. Fake bills. Fake guns. And a real Jeff Bridges as a 1950s armoured car robber in a heist gone wrong at Christmas.
Drew Goddard’s Bad Times at the El Royale has started filming, launching with two days in the small town of Agassiz east of Vancouver.
What’s the movie about?
A cast of characters collide violently at the El Royale, a run-down hotel in the 1960s near California’s Lake Tahoe, for a “60s noir thriller” from Drew Goddard.
Chris Hemsworth, Jeff Bridges, Dakota Johnson, Cynthia Erivo and Cailee Spaeney star in the film
Related: Drew Goddard’s Bad Times at the El Royale to Start Filming in Vancouver in Winter 2018.
Jeff “the Dude” Bridges is a convict pretending to be a priest so he can find stolen loot he stashed in the hotel years before. Bridges gets his mask and hat on to film a sequence of the original robbery yesterday.
And action. Can you see the snow falling and dollar bills flying?
The set with overturned armoured vehicle.
Writer and director Drew Goddard?
Other characters: Chris Hemsworth (Thor) is a charasmatic cult leader looking to recapture a follower who got away.
Dakota Johnson has joined the cast in an undisclosed role.
Tony winner Cynthia Erivo is a down-on-her-luck singer who crosses paths with the others.
Cailee Spaeney is a young Southern girl hiding out in the hotel.
Bad Times at the El Royale is Drew Goddard’s feature film followup to his horror hit The Cabin in the Woods.
Bad Times at the El Royale (working title Purple Harvest) is expected to film in metro Vancouver from January 29th to April 13th.
The 20th Century Fox production already has a shoot scheduled on Agassiz’s Pioneer Avenue for January 30th and 31st.
The plan is to turn this block between Park Street and Highway 9 into a 1950s Christmas holiday scene, according to a filming notice.
Bad Times at the El Royale is expected in theatres on October 5th.