For years, rumors circulated about Michigan becoming the next Hollywood, and with its extensive list of feature films that have been recorded here, why couldn’t it be?
Ann Arbor, Michigan plays host every year to one of the most prestigious film festivals in the entire world, The Ann Arbor Film Festival. Yet, kiddie-corner to Ann Arbor is our beloved Ypsilanti, Michigan, which has quite the resume when it comes to Hollywood box-office hits.
The roller-derby hit, “Whip It,” directed by Drew Barrymore, who also starred, was filmed right here in our little college town in 2009. The female-empowering flick that encourages girls “to be their own hero” also stars Ellen Page (“Inception”), playing a teenage girl stuck in a conservative town and falls in love with something not-so conservative, roller-derby. While this was filmed partially in Ann Arbor, it also filmed a few locations in Ypsilanti, yet exact places are unknown.
A play converted into film format in 2010, “Stone” was also filmed in Ypsilanti for two days in the Emmanuel Lutheran Church of Ypsilanti and much of Washtenaw County.
This drama starred seasoned actors Robert De Niro (“Taxi Cab”), Edward Norton (“Fight Club”) and Milla Jovovich (“Resident Evil”) but sadly only received a 47 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and received many mixed reviews on its content. It was directed by John Curran, who also directed “The Painted Veil,” that also stars Norton.
The 2012 up-and-coming movie filmed in Ypsilanti, Michigan is “The Five-Year Engagement” starring Jason Segal (“Forgetting Sarah Marshall”) and Emily Blunt (“The Devil Wears Prada”), and was directed by Nicholas Stoller who directed the box-office smash hit, “The Muppets.”
The romantic comedy is supposed to display the trials and tribulations of what it is like to be engaged for what seems like far too long. The film is also produced by Judd Apatow, a comedy master of sorts whose done films such as “Knocked Up” and “The 40 year-old Virgin.”
This little town known simply as Ypsi, has been mistaken for many things, but not often as a tiny Hollywood. With its rich culture and thousands of viable filming locations with plenty of local flavor, it offers constantly to directors and actors.
Other films to be captured here have only been rumored, but fingers crossed that they head to Michigan. 2012 holds a movie list that rivals all other years before it, one can only hope that the movie industry packs its bags to film in all the riches that Michigan has.
