Tracking Shot November 2009: Beginners, Black Swan, Let Me In

At the beginning of every month, IONCINEMA.com’s “Tracking Shot” features a handful of projects that we feel are worth signaling out and that are moments away from lensing. As we get closer to holiday dates productions tend to drop, so this November we are keeping tabs on only a handful of projects. Mike Mills is finally getting to work on his sophomore feature which would see Ewan McGregor play a young man rocked by two announcements from his elderly father (Christopher Plummer)…one, that he has terminal cancer, and two, that he’s coming out of the closet. One more name will join the cast – perhaps the age of Brendan Fraser when he was in Gods and Monsters. Filming is set for L.A.

Not much production info has been divulged on Darren Aronofsky’s next film. Word was that production would begin this month and that Portman and Kunis were prepping by getting used to blistered feet and leotards. A NYC shoot is expected. Another project with “dance” elements that could pay out perhaps in a Moulin Rouge kind of way is the directing debut from Steve Antin. Voice work won’t be a problem – I’m hoping that the acting is on par. Check for status updates on the filmmaker’s twitter feed (here). Speaking of twitter feeds, you might want to follow up on the production for the English language remake of the massively popular Swedish original horror film. Matt Reeves begins filming Let Me In in New Mexico as of today.

I included Cedar Rapids as part of last month’s films in production, it might have got pushed back by a week or two and in the process they picked up Anne Heche. And from Romania, Radu Muntean (see person on right hand side of the pic) (The Paper Will Be Blue, Boogie) begins production on the tale of a man who leaves his wife right before Christmas that he’s leaving her to be with his mistress; in return, he’s told he has until the Tuesday after the holiday to break the news to their young daughter.

Beginners
Director: Mike Mills
Cast: Ewan McGregor and Christopher Plummer
Filming in Los Angeles

Black Swan
Director: Darren Aronofsky – Screenwriter: Mark Heyman and Aronofsky
Producer(s): Aronofsky, Brad Fischer, Scott Franklin, Aaron Kaufman, Mike Medavoy, Arnold Messer, Rich Schwartz and David Thwaites
Cast: Nathalie Portman and Mila Kunis
Filming in New York

Burlesque
Director: Steven Antin – Screenwriter: Antin, Susannah Grant and Keith Merryman
Producer(s): Donald De Line
Cast: Kristen Bell, Cam Gigandet, Stanley Tucci, Cher and Christina Aguilera
Filming in Los Angeles

Cedar Rapids
Director: Miguel Arteta – Screenwriter: Phil Johnston
Producer(s): Ad Hominem Enterprises’s Jim Burke and Jim Taylor with Alexander Payne 
Cast: Ed Helms, John C. Reilly and Anne Heche

Let Me In
Director: Matt Reeves – Screenwriter: 
Producer(s): Guy East, Donna Gigliotti, Carl Molinder, John Nordling, Simon Oakes and Nigel Sinclair
Cast: Kodi Smit-McPhee and Chloe Moretz and Richard Jenkins
Filming in New Mexico – then Albuquerque after Xmas break in January.

Tuesday, After Christmas
Director: Radu Muntean – Screenwriter: Alexandru Baciu, Razvan Radulescu and Muntean
Filming in Romania