ROBERT FALCONER/for metro vancouver
Don’t be surprised if you see the wreckage of a jet airliner on Jericho Beach. It’s all part of the story for Anne Hathaway’s film, Passengers.
Last week we told you that Sting, Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland were in town rehearsing for their Grammy performance (now confirmed) and subsequent Police reunion tour. You kept your eyes open for the trio, and sightings have been numerous around town over the past week. Copeland and Summers dined at CinCin last Friday night, then returned Saturday night in the company of Sting, along with Brightlight Pictures principal, Shawn Williamson.
Hathaway
If you’re a fan of the hit ABC show Lost, you probably recall the series’ rather disturbing opening where the wreckage of a jet airliner is strewn about a beach. Well, they say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and there’s plenty of flattery to be found these days at Jericho Beach, where a stroll along the popular walkway will reveal the strewn wreckage of a jet airliner, all part of the story for Anne Hathaway’s new feature film, Passengers, which we’ve been reporting about over the past few weeks. In the film, Hathaway plays a grief counsellor who helps six plane crash survivors recover from their ordeal, and develops a special connection with one of them. When the survivors begin to disappear mysteriously, she suspects a conspiracy and becomes determined to uncover the truth. We’re informed that early next week the film unit will shoot some spectacular evening sequences of the wreckage burning, so if you’re driving by and see the beach ablaze, don’t panic and call 9-1-1 … it’s all part of the action.
Yours truly spent some time chatting with Campbell River-born actor Barry Pepper at the 13th Annual Victoria Independent Film and Video festival last weekend. Pepper, who appears in Clint Eastwood’s
Flags Of Our Fathers (released yesterday on DVD), is quickly carving a niche for himself as one of Hollywood’s most sought-after character actors, and if you talk to him for any length of time, it isn’t hard to understand why. Pepper’s unique childhood sailing a homemade boat around the South Pacific with his family probably had a lot to do with both his passion and his outlook. The loquacious actor has remained consciously aware of the ebbs and flows of both life and showbiz.
“You realize that it’s not the end of the world if you don’t make it in Hollywood or one day the carpet gets pulled and you gotta go back to pounding nails …” Look for my full interview with Pepper next month at HollywoodNorthReport.com.
Jackman
Finally, word this week that two big features are almost certain to hit town later this summer. The Incredible Hulk, a follow-up to Ang Lee’s 2003 Hulk, will apparently shoot sequences here, while Hugh Jackman returns to Vancouver to star opposite Ken Watanabe and Brian Cox in the X-Men spin-off, Wolverine.
Robert Falconer is a Senior Editor at HollywoodNorthReport.com.
