No sign of Hugh Jackman, but it was pretty cool watching work crews for the new Jackman film 'Real Steel' turn the old firehouse building across from Cobo Hall into a boxing gym earlier today. From what I've heard, the movie is sort of a sci-fi sports flick in which robots replace humans as boxers.Trailers loaded with studio gear are parked all over the place within a block of the old building, which is just across Larned from the old Ponchartrain Hotel. The sidewalk on Washington Boulevard (facing Cobo) has pretty much been turned into an off-camera work area, and trucks are lined up and down Larned, Congress and Shelby streets.
Co-stars of the film include Anthony Mackie, Evangeline Lilly, Dakota Goyo and a few other actors I've never heard of, but Steven Speilberg is working as co-executive producer and rumor has it Sugar Ray Leonard is offering some helpful insights to help make the fight scenes true to sport. The movie is due to be released in November 2011.
