Hollywood film to be shot in New Kensington this summer

Leif Greiss
Thursday, June 29, 2017 10:29 p.m. | Thursday, June 29, 2017 10:29 p.m.

Annapurna Pictures

Promo material for 'Where'd You Go, Bernadette'

Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP

Kristen Wiig arrives at the World Premiere of 'Despicable Me 3' at the Shrine Auditorium on Saturday, June 24, 2017, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP)

Getty Images

NEW YORK, NY - JANUARY 25: Laurence Fishburne attends Arthur Miller - One Night 100 Years Benefit at Lyceum Theatre on January 25, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Michael Loccisano/Getty Images)

In this Feb. 28, 2016 file photo, Cate Blanchett arrives at the Oscars in Los Angeles. Blanchett will star as the title character in 'Where'd You Go, Bernadette?'

Greg Allen/Invision/AP

Billy Crudup attends a special screening of 'Alien: Covenant' hosted by 20th Century Fox and Entertainment Weekly at Time Inc. on Monday, May 15, 2017, in New York. (Photo by Greg Allen/Invision/AP)

Louis B. Ruediger | Tribune-Review

The former Jones & Laughlin/General Electric building on Constitution Boulevard in New Kensington will be used next month as a movie set for filming of the movie “Where’d You Go Bernadette?” starring Cate Blanchett and Laurence Fishburne.

Details

So, you wanna
be in pictures?

Movie Casting PGH is still casting for extra and nonspeaking roles for "Where'd You Go, Bernadette." Here are the characters:

Caterers: 20s-30s, edgy, posh, hipster-types (both genders)

Soo-Lin's son/Lincoln
(age 11-15): Asian-American boy

Argentina shuttle driver: South American/Hispanic man, 30s-60s

Game show host: Man of any ethnicity with great personality, 30-50s

Game show contestants: 20s-50's (both genders)

Real couple with tattoos: Visible tattoos but
not too many, some on arms, 30s-50s

Palmer station workers: Caucasian men with
longer hair/beards, 30s-50s

Kyle: Caucasian boy of junior high school age

Kyle's friends: Boys of the same age, skate boarder-types

Details: http://www.movieextraspittsburgh.com/
where-d-you-go-bernadette--.html

‘Gone'

Here are the characters being sought for this TV show:

• Grade school and college students

• FBI, police, EMTs, executives

• Pedestrians

• Airport personnel

• Technological industry office types

• Professors/teachers

• Other fictional types

Details: http://www.movieextraspittsburgh.com/gone--nbc-
universal-.html

A building in New Kensington is being used for filming scenes for a Hollywood movie this summer — but not the one that was reported...

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Scenes for a Hollywood movie starring Cate Blanchett, Laurence Fishburne and Kristen Wiig will be shot this summer in New Kensington.

The movie, “Where'd You Go, Bernadette,” is set for release next year.

The shoot will take place along Fifth Avenue in and around the former Bloser's Jewelers building in mid-July, according to Mayor Tom Guzzo.

City officials said there will be road closures in the area but exact dates and time aren't yet known and will depend upon the production schedule of the movie.

Those who are interested in seeing themselves on the big screen may still be in luck. Movie Casting PGH is still casting for nonspeaking roles in the film, according to its website.

The movie, based on a New York Times Best Seller of the same name, has been described as a comedy/drama about a 15-year-old daughter searching for her troubled, missing mother and uncovering her hidden past.

The movie is set in Seattle, but filming will be in Pittsburgh and Vancouver. Pittsburgh serves as the stand-in for Seattle.

Blanchett will star as the title character, Bernadette Fox, and the film features Wiig, Fishburne, Billy Crudup and others. Richard Linklater will direct the film.

Pittsburgh and the region were used for another Linklater project, “Last Flag Flying” starring Bryan Cranston, which will be released in theaters in November.

“Mr. Linklater came back because he had a great experience with our crews and locations,” said Dawn Keezer, director of the Pittsburgh Film Office.

The movie will be produced by Annapurna Pictures, which has produced such films as “The Hurt Locker” and “Sausage Party” and Color Force, which produced the “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” series and “Hunger Games” trilogy.

Blanchett is a seven-time Academy Award nominee who won Best Actress in 2013 for “Blue Jasmine.”

Fishburne is a renown stage actor who also is famous for his role in “The Matrix” trilogy on screen and also as lead investigator for several years on TV's “CSI: Crime Scene Investigators.” He's also an Oscar nominee.

Wiig used her years on “Saturday Night Live” to become a comedic movie star.

New Ken may attract TV shoot, too

City Clerk Dennis Scarpiniti said the city also has been approached by NBCUniversal to provide a shooting location for the upcoming international television series “Gone.” Scarpiniti said the city did not have information on a set location or timeframe.

Movie Casting PGH is casting extras for “Gone,” though open casting has already occurred, according to its website, is still casting for extras.

“Gone” will be a police procedural, about the victim of a famous kidnapping who later joins a task force dedicated to solving missing persons cases and abductions. It is based on the book “One Kick.”

It will star Leven Rambin and Chris Noth, among others.

Leif Greiss is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at 724-226-4681, lgreiss@tribweb.com

or via Twitter @Leif_Greiss.