A remake of the Steve McQueen classic Le Mans, starring Brad Pitt, Al Pacino and Penelope Cruz, is due to be filmed in Portugal next year.
“The filming will essentially take place in Portimão, but some scenes will also be filmed in Lisbon, Porto and Aveiro,” said Artur Curado, executive producer of Bartolomeu Digital Cinema, which is part of Picture Portugal, Portimão Câmara’s cinema studios project.
German director Wolfgang Petersen, who worked on the film Troy, and producer Ron Sheldon will also be in the region to work on the film.
“The itinerary is being rewritten until February so that pre-production can start in March and the filming in August,” said Artur Curado.
The cost of producing the film is estimated at 52 million dollars (35.6 million euros) and will involve around 600 people in the Algarve.
According to Artur Curado, a contract has been signed with a private promoter, which guarantees the filming to take place in Portugal.
“We negotiated through the North American producer Mark Senett and we must now only secure 20 per cent of the financing until the end of the year,” he said.
Other films that are planned to be produced in the region by 2011 include Femina, starring Italian actress Sophia Loren, and Mendes, starring Richard Gere, who will be playing the role of Portuguese consul Aristides de Sousa Mendes. Both films are due to be directed by Matt Cimber.
Sigourney Weaver is also due to film in the Algarve in a science fiction film entitled Unknown, produced by Walter Hill who worked on the Alien series of films, while Kevin Bacon is due to star in First Light, a vampire thriller directed by David Bianchi to be filmed in the Algarve.
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