Ellen Page starrer Skates to Michigan and Kick The Can Resurfaces

KICK THE CAN, which folded in Austin just days before shooting was to begin a few weeks back, has resurfaced. According to an email blast to SAG members, the quirky film based on Jim Lehrer’s book is slated to begin production in Houston on June 16th. At least the new location isn’t Shreveport, LA or Ypsilanti, MI.

Speaking of which…

So much for WHIP IT being filmed where the story takes place…Austin, Texas. Michigan’s 40% film incentive program was too much to resist for the producers of the the $15 Million production starring the red-hot and fabulous Ellen Page.

BY JOE O’CONNELL

‘Whip It’ snaps up wolverine cash

The Drew Barrymore-directed Whip It soon would be filming entirely in
Austin, if Texas offered 15% incentives instead of its current 5%.
That’s the word from Bob Hudgins, head of the Texas Film Commission, who
has been courting the Austin-set film written by Shauna Cross, who grew
up in Austin, and dealing with the Roller Derby revival that began in
Austin. Instead, it’s going to Michigan, where Barrymore was spotted
last week scouting locations in Ypsilanti and where they’ll offer up a
whopping 42% financial incentive for the film said to have a budget in
the $15 million range. “Drew really, really wanted to do it here, but
financially there’s such a difference to what they’re getting in
Michigan,” Hudgins says. How could a 15% incentive (a figure Texas film
insiders are hoping to convince the Legislature is viable) potentially
beat out 42%? Barrymore’s film will have to import a Los Angeles crew to
Michigan. The Texas plan was to bring in only three people from Los
Angeles, Hudgins says, with the rest of the hires entirely local. Most
states offering incentives hook them to the hiring of local crew, but
Michigan is using its gaudy incentives to start a film industry from
nothing, so they’ll offer payments, as Hudgins puts it, for anyone who
breathes.