2 more Oscar nominees headed to Winnipeg during busy fall filming period

Two more Oscar-nominated actors are coming to Winnipeg to shoot a movie this fall.

This has already been a very good year for visiting stars coming to Manitoba to shoot films, including Bob Odenkirk, Sharon Stone, Christopher Lloyd, Connie Nielsen and Colin Hanks in Nobody 2.

The sequel just wrapped on Tuesday, but Odenkirk will return to Manitoba for the Ben Wheatley film Normal, shooting from October to December, playing a small-town sheriff trying to unravel a twisted mystery.

Meanwhile, the horror film Altar starring Kyle MacLachlan, January Jones and David Krumholtz, will wrap in early October.

And BenDavid Grabinski's Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice is currently shooting through October with James Marsden, Vince Vaughn, Eiza González, Jimmy Tatro, martial arts star Lewis Tan (Shatterstar in Deadpool and Wolverine) and Keith David, along with Emily Hampshire (Schitt's Creek) who returns to Winnipeg after making My Awkward Sexual Adventure (2012) in the city for director Sean Garrity.

Coming next month is a new film, a thriller directed by Vadim Perelman (House of Sand and Fog) titled The Zealot. It stars former child actor Kodi Smit-McPhee (nominated for a supporting actor Oscar for his work in Jane Campion's The Power of the Dog), and Djimon Hounsou, likewise nominated for supporting actor Oscars in Blood Diamond and In America.

In The Zealot, Hounsou plays Hassan, a Somali-American shuttle driver who gets an offer from a mysterious passenger (Smit-McPhee) to take him from Minneapolis to Chicago. Unbeknownst to Hassan, his passenger has a dark and potentially catastrophic purpose.

Perelman told Variety earlier this year the film is "a journey into the heart of what it means to be human to other humans," and looks at "the unseen paths we walk, the choices we make, and the indelible marks they leave on our souls."

New Hanukkah, Christmas Hallmark movies

The province's estimated film and television production volume would make this a record-breaking year in, Manitoba Film and Music said last month, and that continues with a host of other films.

Juliette Hagopian is producing the second seasonal Hallmark movie to shoot in town that is centred not on Christmas, but Hanukkah.

The romantic comedy Hanukkah on the Rocks follows in the tradition of the 2022 Hallmark entry Hanukkah on Rye, which was filmed primarily in the Exchange District. Sean Garrity directs the new film with stars Stacey Farber (late of the locally shot series The Spencer Sisters) and Daren Kagasoff (The Secret Life of the American Teenager).

Farber plays Tory, a corporate lawyer in Chicago who finds herself out of work one week before Hanukkah. Gifted with loads of free time, she helps her grandmother prepare for Hanukkah and embarks on a quest to find good candles.

Her journey leads her to a bar called Rocky's, where she and a handsome doctor (Kagasoff) fight over the last box of candles. 

The film was scheduled to wrap this week.

Following Yonder Star, a more typical Hallmark entry produced under the auspices of Inferno Pictures, stars Brooke D'Orsay (Two and a Half Men) and John Brotherton (Fuller House). Directed by Jeff Beesley, it will be shooting throughout October and is scheduled to premiere on the Hallmark Channel Dec. 15.

In August, Manitoba Film and Music estimated production volume for 2024 would be a record-breaking $434.9 million between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31.