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J.J. Abrams and Glen Powell are filming in Rhode Island. Here’s where they’ve been spotted.
The latest project to film in the Ocean State will also star Samuel L. Jackson, Jenna Ortega, and Emma Mackey, according to IMDB.
If you’ve spotted actor Glen Powell, seemingly covered in blood, riding a bike all over Rhode Island this week, the answer is no: He didn’t get into a fight over the last clam cake and escape on two wheels.
The “Hit Man” and “Twisters” star, however, is shooting movie with “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” director JJ Abrams. The movie — untitled when filming started but now apparently called “Ghostwriter,” per IMDB — has filmed in Providence, East Providence, and Cranston this week.
A vague press release from the Rhode Island Film & TV Office called it simply a “Warner Brothers Production.” Gov. Dan McKee tweeted a link to a local NBC affiliate story on the Abrams film.
Crews filmed Monday at the Providence Performing Arts Center and College Hill, where both Powell and a stunt double were seen riding in the area, with Powell waving at a pack of RISD students, according to the Providence Journal.
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White signs indicating filming spots were posted in the Fox Point area on Aug. 17, some warning of blocked parking spots for Aug. 18-19.
Rockstar Piercing on Wickenden Street announced on Insta they had a role: dressed up to look like a “cell phone repair shop” for filming.
Meanwhile in Cranston, comic/record/collectable store The Time Capsule was temporarily transformed into a comic shop called Graffiti Comics for the shoot, according to whatsgoingoninrhodeisland.com. There, Powell apparently donned the same made-to-look bloodied flannel shirt, brown pants and brown shoes.
Over in East Providence, Abrams and Powell — and Powell’s parents — snapped a photo with East Providence Mayor Bob DaSilva, while filming on the East Bay Bike Path. “East Providence the east coast Hollywood,” DaSilva posted to Facebook on Aug. 18.
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While only Powell and Abrams have been spotted so far, the cast includes Samuel L. Jackson, Jenna Ortega, and Emma Mackey, according to IMDB.
Rhody is on a roll when it comes to landing film shoots recently: In June, Jake Gyllenhaal and M. Night Shyamalan filmed in spots including Little Compton, Warren, and Bristol in June.
According to a March RI Film & TV press release, Leonardo DiCaprio’s production company, Appian Way, has partnered with a Rhode Island-based production company, Verdi Productions, “for the authorized documentary on the life of Rod Serling, most known as the creator, host, narrator and primary writer of The Twilight Zone … Principal photography wrapped in Rhode Island, taking place in East Greenwich, Providence, and Wakefield.”
Last year, Woody Harrelson, Jamie Lee Curtis and others filmed “Ella McCay” in Rhody (Harrelson hit up a cannabis dispensary in Pawtucket). The movie — also starring Dorchester’s Ayo Edebiri — is slated for a Dec. 12 release, according to IMDB.
And filming soon: Bravo’s “Real Housewives of Rhode Island.”
Lauren Daley can be reached at [email protected]. She tweets @laurendaley1, and Instagram at @laurendaley1. Read more stories on Facebook here.
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