Meryl Streep film to be shot in CT

Meryl Streep appears at the Oscars at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on February 24, 2013.

Meryl Streep appears at the Oscars at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on February 24, 2013.

Published Aug 29, 2013

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CAPE Town film lovers will see their city in the next big feature starring Meryl Streep and Jeff Bridges, set to begin shooting at the end of September.

“We were approached by the Weinstein Company this year and went to a meeting at their New York office. From that it looks like the entire film will be shot here,” said Cape Town Film Commission chief executive Denis Lillie.

He said filming for The Giver would take six to eight weeks.

The script is based on the controversial award-winning dystopian children’s novel by Lois Lowry, and will be directed by Philip Noyce.

Starring Streep as the chief elder of a society characterised by a profound lack of emotion, the authoritarian world comes under threat when a boy is chosen to be apprenticed to the titular character (Bridges) to learn the history of human emotion.

The project has since been picked up by Cape Town production studio Moonlighting Films, which collaborated on 2011’s Safehouse and Clint Eastwood’s Invictus.

Lillie said the Cape Town film industry had grown at 30 percent a year over the past three years. The industry had contributed about R5 billion to the local economy in the past 12 months.

“That number includes everything: documentaries, animation, sound and music for films, feature films, short films, TV series, reality shows.

“The Giver will bring between R160 and R200 million in direct costs.”

“We’re finding that word of mouth is creating an opportunity for us. Everyone is saying in Hollywood that it’s a great place to film.”

Lillie said the film commission’s next big project was under wraps, adding he had met Marvel Studio executives in Los Angeles two months ago.

“We’ve been in dialogue with Marvel Studios. I’m not allowed to say what it is, but the production guys are coming out here in the next few weeks to check out the town.”

Lillie said shooting for the comic book film would start in early February.

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