I'm a little slow on the uptake, as many of you can attest to. So while I'd seen some road barriers around West Liberty and Ashley downtown the past few days, I didn't pay them much mind. Unlike most of this town, I was unaware that a movie crew was in town to take advantage of Michigan's hefty tax credits for filmmakers. Until this morning, when I was made late to a doctor's appointment because they were shooting a fiery car crash scene and they had perky, attractive young production assistants preventing locals from accessing a couple of blocks.
You can't really see anything in these photos because they were taken with my phone camera, the lens of which is, apparently, grimy and smudgy. But right down there was where the car was on fire. The movie in question is called Youth in Revolt and it stars Arrested Development's cutie-pie Michael Cera, Justin Long, Steve Buscemi, Ray Liotta , Jean Smart and Fred Willard. Despite rumors of the first two being spotted in town, the production claims none of the stars were in town for filming this scene, that it was only stunt folk.
For those keeping track of such things, the aforementioned Michigan tax credit -- largely spearheaded by Michigan resident Jeff Daniels -- is bringing quite a bit of movie biz to the state. Drew Barrymore's production company has set up shop in Ypsilanti (Ann Arbor's neighboring township) for the Barrymore-directed flick Whip It!, which started filming here in July and is slated to continue through September. (Curiously, it stars Cera's Juno cast mate Ellen Page.)
We're SO Hollywood!