Albom's 'Have A Little Faith' films at I Am My Brother's Keeper Ministries in Detroit

Follow along closely, this could get a little confusing.

There was a church with a hole in the roof.

Then a writer wrote a book in part about that hole, and the book raised money to help repair the roof.

Then the book sold so well they decided to make a movie of the story. Last week they filmed it, returning to the actual church for taping. Except the hole had been fixed by then, so to film the movie, they had to pop a new hole in the roof.

And now, filming of Mitch Albom's book-turned-movie 'Have A Little Faith" at the I Am My Brother's Keeper Ministries in Detroit is reportedly done, so the roof will have to be re-repaired. All of this according to a security guy who was guarding the set last week as Laurence Fishburne and the rest of the crew were inside the church filming.

"I don't know if this (hole) is as big as the one that used to be there, but they had to put a new one in for the movie," he said, chuckling. "The magic of Hollywood!"

He added that, in addition to re-repairing the roof, the movie will help pay for other renovations at the church, which is great news. It's a really cool old building on Trumbull near Grand River, and the home base for some folks doing great work. Click here read about some of our previous visits.   

Clooney film 'Ides of March' works its magic in Detroit's Capitol Park

Not long ago, crews filming 'Transformers 3' set up shop in Capitol Park in downtown Detroit. The brief resurrection of the Farwell Building was something to see.

Before that, the remake of 'Red Dawn' filmed just down the street, while Faye Dunaway's 'Master Class' was a few blocks away in Grand Circus Park.

So when George Clooney and crew were in town last week filming scenes for 'Ides of March' in Capitol Park, it seemed fair to wonder whether another filming season in downtown Detroit was just getting underway, or if Clooney's production would mark the end of a short-lived era.

Politicians, movie industry contractors, and just about everybody in the state continue to debate whether Michigan's generous tax incentives are in fact overly generous, or rather a clever way to entice Hollywood to spend money in Michigan. Does spending millions to bring in production crews have enough payoff? Or are do we just like star-gazing?

It's a fun discussion, and if I had a vote, I'd likely fall somewhere in the middle, hopeful that a sensible but enticing package of incentives can be created to continue attracting movie-makers without giving away the bank. Provided the price tag isn't too high, there's no doubt a benefit to being the host site of so many film crews.

If nothing else, it's keeping things interesting in Capitol Park.

George Clooney brings 'Ides of March' production to downtown Detroit

Getting in just under the wire before what we'll call the Snyder Film Industry Dis-Incentives kick in, George Clooney and company are in town this week filming "Ides of March", a political drama starring Clooney, Marisa Tomei and Ryan Gosling.

Clooney is also directing the picture, and the production crews took over Park Avenue just north of Grand Circus Park Tuesday to film some scenes inside Cliff Bell's. Across from the beaten up Hotel Charlevoix, and next to the Park Bar, Cliff Bell's wore a new marquee over its doors for filming Tuesday. It said "Ninth" something, we couldn't make out the rest. You can look for it when the film is released this October.

Seeing the movie trucks on the streets, and the yellow signs steering cast and crew to the base camp lot (the signs say "IOM" in large black letters) was a sure a sign that spring is nearing in Detroit. Filming has been pretty quiet throughout winter. Of course, this could be the last spring that sees a spike in movie production traffic in Michigan, should Snyder's plan to dissolve the film industry tax incentive hold up. Want to see to tax incentives remain? Try bugging the crap out of your local representative.

'Close Quarters' cancels shoot in downtown Detroit parking garage

(Updated 11/18) 'Close Quarters', the action thriller that was scheduled to shoot at a parking garage on the west side of downtown Detroit, has canceled its scheduled plans to shoot scenes Friday, Nov. 19. No plans for rescheduling the filming have been announced.


The parking garage, located on Lafayette and Third, was used recently during filming of 'The Double' starring Richard Gere. If you're unfamiliar with the building, it's located across Third Street from the Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News building, and is visible from the Lodge as you enter downtown (it wears an enormous billboard that features the newspaper company's rather curious slogan "Time To Engage".)

'Close Quarters', a Lifetime Movie Network production, will star Catherine Bell as a military-trained special-ops agent who's forced back into duty when her husband, played by Anthony Michael Hall, is kidnapped. The movie will also star Mekhi Phifer.

Grand Trunk Pub, Vine host filming of made-for-TV 'Smooch'

It might seem like small potatoes compared to high-profile productions like 'Transformers 3' and 'LOL: Laughing Out Loud' that have swept through Detroit in recent weeks.

But  crews for 'Smooch' - a made-for-TV movie that will air on Hallmark TV in February - is in town today filming a Valentine's Day 2011 flick at the Grand Trunk Pub and Vine wine bar on Woodward.

Starring Kiernan Shipka ('Mad Men') and Kellie Martin ('ER'), 'Smooch' is a modern-day translation of The Brothers Grimm story 'The Frog Prince'.

In an interesting side note, some movie-makers doing work in Detroit appear to have grown tired of passers-by showing interest in their projects. When I asked one of the crew members what was being filmed, he said as seriously as possible, "A mayonnaise commercial," clearly not in any kind of mood to divulge the truth. Other people walking along Woodward had already been fed the same line. Fortunately, our relentless digging finally got to the truth: a movie that few of us will ever watch was filmed in Detroit today.

'Transformers 3' takes over downtown Detroit as filming nears an end

'Transformers 3' has transformed Griswold Street into a 'war zone'.

Reportedly scheduled to wrap up shooting in Detroit by Oct. 1, the 'Transformers 3' production hit high gear the past few days, dominating a three-block stretch of Griswold and setting up at various other locations downtown.

The Griswold stretch, from State Street, past Capitol Park and up to Clifford Street, looked like a war zone, with charred cars flipped everywhere, building burned out, and broken concrete scattered. It was really cool to walk through.

A block away on Washington Avenue, prop trailers were parked end to end with special cars and other pieces of the production's enormous equipment. A block further, crews were setting up banks of lights on Thursday afternoon in front of the AT&T building on Cass Avenue, preparing to film that evening. And at the Adams Street and Cass, huge white tents covered an empty parking lot to serve as the company's base camp.

But it was the Griswold Street location that drew swarms of people today. Crowds gathered at Griswold and Michigan Avenue to watch take after take. Some talked about the explosions they witnessed a night earlier when they visited the same location to see night scenes being filmed.

'Transformers 3' is scheduled to wrap shooting on Griswold this weekend. No word on where or if they'll set up elsewhere in town before finishing up.

'Transformers 3' filming on Griswold and Clifford streets in Detroit

For 'Transformers 3'...

The 'Transformers 3' plans to film at a row of a previously boarded-up buildings in Detroit's Capitol Park swelled north on Griswold Street this week.

Fake building facades, props and other additions to the road now stretch to Clifford Street, where an old burned out building has been renovated to look like a liquor store. This same building - on Clifford across from where Griswold meets it - was also used during filming of 'Red Dawn' last year.

Other changes along Griswold include what looks like a fake cement half-wall that lines a portion of the east side of the street, and extensive facade work to the Farwell Building and others near to Capitol Park.

...and for 'Red Dawn'

According to security on site, filming is scheduled to take place on Thursday, but police notices posted on the parking meters  indicate that the area is off-limits to parking through Saturday.

In other 'Transformers 3' news, reports of the production company's plans to blow up a small four-story building across from Grand Circus Park on Washington Boulevard were either premature or those plans have fallen through. The lot on which the building sits still holds a number of items being used in filming 'Transformers 3', but no word on whether filming will actually happen there, or if the space is simply being used to store equipment.

'Transformers 3' to film at the Farwell Building in Detroit's Capitol Park

State Farm Insurance and Remax Realtor signs were added to the front of the abandoned Farwell Building for the filming of 'Transformers 3'.

As the renovation of Capitol Park in downtown Detroit continues (with a completion date later this fall), one of the park's neighboring buildings is also getting a bit of a facelift.

Crews in town to shoot the sci-fi thriller 'Transformers 3' have peeled back the boards that covered the street-level spaces in the Farwell Building, and are preparing the facade for shooting that will take place all next week, according to workers on the site. Tattered green awnings are being added, and by Friday afternoon signage for businesses such as Remax and State Farm Insurance were installed.

The movie project sheds new light on one of Detroit's long-vacant buildings. The Falwell, an eight-story brick unit built in 1915, has been empty since 1984, and when the boards were removed a row of businesses was revealed, including a burned out old bar and other office space.

With Capitol Park nearing completion of a major renovation outside, city planners hope the triangular block, once a pivotal business district in Detroit, will be rejuvenated, much like the area surrounding nearby Campus Martius Park was when that park was renovated. Perhaps the 'Transformers 3' project will help spur re-development, including that of the Farwell Building.

'Transformers 3' brings special effects to monstrous set in downtown Detroit

'Transformers 3' created this set in a lot between Howard and Lafayette at Sixth Street.

Already done at the Michigan Central Depot, and still preparing to blow up a building near Grand Circus Park, makers of the film 'Transformers 3' will spend the next couple of days shooting scenes in a lot on the west side of downtown Detroit.

A peak through the mesh fence

Behind black mesh fencing that wraps the entire lot (between Lafayette and Howard at Sixth Street), crews have erected an enormous set that includes giant blue screens, which we're told are commonly used when a movie will feature a lot of computer generated effects. The lot, just west of the Lodge Freeway entering downtown, is also scattered with gigantic chunks of concrete and huge cement pillars, presumably the same type of foam materials that we spotted last week in a lot on Washington Boulevard where filmmakers are reportedly planning on blowing up a four-story building.

This sign worns pedestrians

One of the crew members said the 'Transformers 3' folks will be at the Lafayette-Howard Street location for a day or two, and should be wrapping up in Detroit sometime next week.

'Transformers 3' takes aim at blowing up a building near Grand Circus Park

These concrete chunks are actually made of foam and will be used during filming of 'Transformers 3'.

The latest word says this building will not be blown up.

(UPDATED SEPT. 14) – On the lot that once housed the famous Statler Hotel, only a lone four-story building remains. It stands empty, inside a curve in the People Mover track and neighboring a grass and gravel lot that in recent months has been often used by movie companies to store cars ('Street Kings'), tanks ('Red Dawn') and other large props.

These days, in this triangular parcel between Washington and Bagley just across the street from Grand Circus Park, crews from 'Transformers 3' have been working.

Enormous chunks of fake concrete (made of foam) are piled in one area, and banged up cars line the side of the little four-story building.

It's been rumored, though, that the little four-story building might soon take a lead role in the filming of 'Transformers 3' when it is blown up during filming of one of the movie's scenes. Not true, according to a source in the know. While that might change any day, the deal to blow the building up has not been finalized.

Third installment of the 'Hostel' horror-flick series filming in Detroit

'Hostel 3' is filming in Detroit.

The parade of movie production companies paying a visit to Detroit in recent months continued today as crews from 'Hostel 3' set up their base camp in a lot down the street from old Tiger Stadium.

Their cleverly disguised signs hanging at various points downtown steered crew members to a lot on Rosa Parks Boulevard at the I-75 service drive, once upon a time a great tailgate zone before Tigers games.

Most of the signs featured only an arrow and the word "SIX", presumably a reference to Sony's Stage 6 Films, which is producing the bloody three-quel. That's not me using Old English profanity; the 'Hostel' movies, for those unfamiliar, are apparently disgustingly gory tales of dismemberment, bloodshed, and death. Great date movies!

In the photo, that's the old Michigan Central Station in the background, where crews from 'Transformers 3' are still setting up for the third installment of that series as well. No word on where 'Hostel' is going to actually film, but it's somewhere nearby the lot on Rosa Parks, according to someone working the lot.

'Detroit 1-8-7' spends a day filming on Michigan Avenue in Corktown

As the countdown to the debut of the new ABC cop drama 'Detroit 1-8-7' continues, we spotted crews filming the new show last week on Michigan Avenue just off the Lodge freeway.

Michael Imperioli, John Michael Hill and Natalie Martinez were all on location at a car wash, just a few blocks from where the old Tiger Stadium once stood.

Among the props brought in, which caught the attention of Corktown passers-by, were a flock of Detroit cop cars and a black van that read "Wayne County Coroner" on the side. Behind the car wash, a two-story house was also being used in the scene, and a crane held a cameraman up near a second-story window.

Here's hoping '1-8-7' gets the ratings it needs to keep production in the city!

(Have you seen crews from 'Detroit 1-8-7' around town? Let us know what you've seen by posting it on the comment board.)

Crews for 'LOL: Laughing Out Loud' take over American Coney Island

'LOL' films at American Coney Island

Once known as great places to get an original coney island hotdog, American Coney Island and Lafayette Coney Island are fast earning a new reputation: great places to film scenes in which people eat coney island hotdogs.

'Hung', the HBO series about a high school basketball coach in Detroit, filmed at Lafayette last year. In recent months, the Food Network seems to have made regular visits to Detroit's famous coney island restaurants. And when the 'Red Dawn' folks were in town, the cast pretty much camped out in the tip of the American Coney Island, although I don't think any filming happened inside.

Now come the cast and crew from 'LOL', the Demi Moore/Miley Cyrus film that's been shooting around the city for much of the past month. Crew tents and equipment surrounded the place on Lafayette Boulevard and on Michigan Avenue earlier today, and trailers occupied much of the area where the Lafayette Building once stood. According to signs, the 'LOL' crews will be back tomorrow for more filming.

Around the corner on Griswold Street, Alicia Silverstone, Sigourney Weaver and the gang filming 'Vamps' were still busy earlier today. New York City cabs were brought in to shoot scenes, many of which took place in the dark alley between the Ford Building and the Penobscot Building. No  word on how long 'Vamps' will be around, but 'LOL' is scheduled to wrap up filming by the end of the week, according to a guy securing the coney island set.

'Transformers 3' setting up at Michigan Central Station?

The Michigan Central Station in Corktown

The old Michigan Central Station might be one of the most photographed buildings in Detroit. Thanks to director Michael Bay, it's becoming one of the most-filmed, too.

The MCS - that vacant, broken-windowed concrete monster that towers over Corktown - is rumored to be the location for scenes in 'Transformers 3', a film directed by Bay, who you may recall also used the MCS during filming of the original 'Transformers' movie in 2005 and during filming of 'The Island' in 2006. Maybe he just really likes the food at Slow's Bar B-Q.

Taping didn't appear to have started when I drove past earlier this morning, but there were a few guys hanging around outside. One politely informed me that they were "working on a project", but he couldn't elaborate when I asked him which movie was being filmed.

If nothing else, the detour on my way downtown gave me a first-ever chance to get up close with the old train station. Trust me, the decay gets more remarkable the closer you get to the barbed wire fence.

Wanna see more of the MCS? Click here to revisit a previous Times post and take a 360-degree tour of the building's lobby. It's awesome.

'Vamps', 'Street King 2: Motor City' filming in downtown Detroit

'Vamp' crews set up in front of the Parker-Webb Building on Grand River.

Grand River Avenue in downtown Detroit was buzzing this afternoon as film crews working on two different projects were setting up across the street from one another.

Alicia Silverstone and the 'Vamps' crew were filming in the Parker-Webb Building on Grand River near Bagley. About 100 feet away, Ray Liotta and company were using the Times Square Station of the Detroit People Mover to film scenes for the sequel to 'Street King'. Liotta, who takes the lead from original 'Street Kings' star Keanu Reaves, plays a Detroit cop in the new movie, 'Street Kings 2: Motor City'.

If you hope to catch some of the filming, you best hurry. No word on how long the 'Vamps' gang will be in town, but pedestrian signs announced that the Times Square Station - which is closed all day Tuesday - will reopen on Wednesday, Aug. 11.

'Vamps' to start filming in Detroit's Times Square

See the young woman in the red shirt sitting in a chair on the sidewalk outside the Parker-Webb Building?

She's wearing what has quickly become one of the most commonly seen garments in downtown Detroit these days (aside from anything with the Olde English D on it, of course.)

The red golf shirt is the official uniform of RSIG Security, the firm that nearly every movie production company has hired to keep the crowds away while they make their movies in Detroit. In fact, it's typically an RSIG employee who tells me to stop taking pictures on a movie set, at which point I walk 20 feet and take more.

After I spotted her, I deduced in very sleuth-like fashion that another film was getting underway in Detroit, this time in the Parker-Webb, which by the way is a beautifully restored old building in an otherwise forgotten part of downtown occasionally referred to as Times Square. (It's on Grand River near Bagley, just across from Nick's Gaslight, if that helps.)

According to Red Shirt, crews are currently inside the building setting up for a movie called 'Vamps', starring Alicia Silverstone, Sigourney Weaver and others. Reportedly, the movie tells the story of two young vampire girls who live in New York. Filming could begin as early as tomorrow.

'LOL: Laughing Out Loud' begins filming in Detroit

The Garden Court Condos: 65 rooms with a view.

The latest movie production crew to set up shop in Detroit is here to film 'LOL: Laughing Out Loud', a film starring Demi Moore and Miley Cyrus. I'm not so much interested  in the movie (by the way, it's a remake of a French film that was made a few years ago), but I did find a pretty cool little note about the building in which the movie is being filmed.


The Garden Court Condominiums building is a newly renovated, nine-story building on Detroit's eastside, at E. Jefferson and Joseph Compeau, just down the block from Atwater Block Brewery. In recent years, it served as the fictional home of Detroit D.J. Martin on the TV show 'Martin'.


Like seemingly every building in the city, Garden Court was designed by Albert Kahn back in the early 1900s. Legend tells that Kahn designed the building for J. Harrington Walker, son of whiskey magnate Hiram Walker. According to the tale, Garden Court was built to offer J. Harrington a place from which he could see out over the Detroit River to his deceased father's distilleries in Canada during Prohibition.


I've no idea what 'LOL' is about, although I'm sure it'll involve a lot of text messaging. But if you ask me, a Prohibition-era film about a whiskey industrialist who builds a tower on an international boundary to keep on eye on booze runners sounds like a better plot base.

On the set of 'A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas'

It was obvious Hollywood was in town earlier today because there was a subway station in downtown Detroit. Ah, the magic of the movies!

For filming of 'A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas', crews have a block of Congress Street all gussied up in its Manhattan-at-Christmas-time best. Street signs that once said "Griswold" now read "Wall St." The Jimmy John's restaurant at Griswold and Congress transformed into Bull & Bear Market. And crowds of on-lookers - a couple of whom might even keep a silly blog - watched as scenes were prepared for and rehearsed. 

We even caught John Cho step out of the Buhl Building, perform a 15-second scene, and then disappear again for another take. 

Word has it the 'Harold and Kumar' people will be back tomorrow for another round of filming, before packing their stuff for another locale. So far they've shot scenes at an old Budweiser warehouse on Detroit's eastside, Eastern Market, and numerous locations in Oakland County.

Around the corner from the 'Harold and Kumar' downtown set, it looks as if 'Real Steel' is wrapped up filming at the old fire house on Washington across from Cobo Hall.

'Harold and Kumar' brings Christmas in July to Detroit

'Harold and Kumar' is filming in Detroit.

A block of downtown Detroit will become a street in Manhattan this week as filmmakers create the third 'Harold and Kumar' movie.

Congress Street between Griswold and Shelby is being decorated for the Christmas season, complete with holly strands stretching across the road, icicle lights hanging from building awnings, and enormous wreaths dressing up the side of the Penobscot Building.

According to a guy working security,

A look inside Tallet's Gym on the 'Real Steel' set

A boxing ring fills a room in the old firehouse for filming of 'Real Steel'.

The sign announcing Tallet's Gym that hung outside over Larned Street has been removed.

But filming of the movie 'Real Steel' continued inside the old firehouse across from Cobo Hall late last week, and we managed to peak in for a quick look.

Not sure how this will get used in the movie, but it seems in complete contrast to what the movie is supposed to be about. By all reports, 'Real Steel', starring Hugh Jackman, is a sci-fi movie in which robots take the place of humans as boxers. I think Jackman is a trainer. Anyway, the gym they've built at the firehouse looks anything but futuristic. More like an old-school gym that would've been used to film 'Rocky'.

Click here to see what the sign outside the building looked like.