Wichita on the Boston Movie Tour!

We have to give it up to director James Mangold (Walk the Line) for making our jobs here at Boston Movie Tours a whole lot easier. We will not have to change our Theatre-on-Wheels bus route at all to include his new Boston-made flick Wichita because they filmed on a location directly where we make a hop-off stop! The Loaded Gun is reporting and has pictures of the movie being filmed in front of the Boston Fire Museum on Congress Street.

For those of you unfortunate enough to still have not taken the best tour Boston has to offer (ours) a highlight for many is to see the filming location of the 344 Washington Street scenes in Martin Scorcese's The Departed. Well the place where Tom Cruise was just filming on Monday is exactly where our bus stops to show the scene from The Departed... I know!! Almost too good to be true!

Let's just hope that Wichita can reach the bar The Departed set so high.

Mark Wahlberg looking for "Tough Broads", "Crack Addicts", and Cambodian Men

Mark Wahlberg is coming back to Boston to play Lowell's Mickey Ward in his new movie, The Fighter. Batman's Christian Bale will also be in the upcoming movie playing his younger brother who helped him train to become the world lightweight champion in the 80's. This will be the Dorchester native's third movie shot in Massachusetts, behind The Perfect Storm (2nd highest grossing MA movie of all time) and The Departed.

The movie will actually be shot primarily in Lowell in July. Although we were not able to find the link on Boston Casting's site, the Loaded Gun reports they will be holding an open casting call tomorrow at 129 Braintree St. in Allston from 10am to 4pm. They are specifically looking for:

• Women from 25-40 to play "tough broads"
• Men from ages 25-40 to play "crack addicts"

What we were able to find on Boston Casting's site was an open casting call for this Monday from 11am to 4pm for Cambodian men ages 25-40 who speak fluent Khmer. If you fit any of these profiles, bring your headshot and resume with you to either of these casting calls.

Passion of the Hub

As the summer starts to wind down, the film scene is slowly starting to pick up again in Boston. The summer has brought the wrapping up of several films shooting from the spring, but April showers did not bring May movie sets. Luckily, these lovely August thunderstorms are bringing us.... Mel Gibson! Set to start filming Edge of Darkness next week, Gibson flew into the city last night and hit the ground running! Boston Herald's Inside Track reports that unlike Departed and Ashecliffe star Leo DiCaprio, Gibson is very social and loves to get in good with the locals. Just last week, Mel was seen schmoozing at Kings bowling alley in the Back Bay, Mantra night club, and even grabbed a bite to eat at JJ Foley's downtown! This just goes to show that you just never know when you'll be in the right place at the right time. The cast and crew- which, by the way, includes Robert De Niro will be here until Christmastime, so keep your eyes peeled, moviegoers!

Edge of Darkness and Britney to Boston?

A popular TV series is coming to Boston and is being made into a movie. According to the Boston Globe, filming will take place this summer for Edge of Darkness which follows a police investigator whose activist daughter is killed under mysterious circumstances.

Mel Gibson is set to begin filming the flick in August with Boston local William Monahan penning the script. The movie is being produced by Graham King who last worked with Monahan on the Oscar winning The Departed.

Also ,according to another Boston Globe article, rumored to join the cast is Britney Spears. Is Boston ready for Britney? We’ll have to see.

Scorsese and DiCaprio Team Up Again

What happens when you mix The Departed with Mystic River? You get another potential Boston blockbuster.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese are teaming up on another Boston crime drama called Shutter Island. They originally teamed up on the award winning The Departed. Mark Ruffalo and Ben Kinsley have also joined the cast.

Shutter Island is base on a book by local author Dennis Lehane (Mystic River and Gone Baby Gone). Set in the 1950s, Shutter Island follows the stories of two United States Marshals (Ruffalo and DiCaprio) who investigate a mental patient’s disappearance on a Boston area island. They uncover that nothing is quite what it seems on this mysterious island.

According to the Inside Track, Scorsese was in Boston the other day scouting locations. Keep your eyes out. Shooting is scheduled to begin in March.

Now Open: Next tours Apr 14/15

Last weekend's opening day tours sold out five days in advance. Make sure to book in advance for the weekend of April 14th and 15th if you want to take the tours.

We were excited to show some new The Departed locations. Susan down at L Street Tavern also added some awesome Good Will Hunting memorabilia to her bar for this 2007 season.

Guest of the weekend goes to Mrs Parker who was celebrating her 87th birthday. Her daughter Annie brought the family along for experience. Way to go Mrs. Parker.

Meeting Location - Boston Common Visitor Center
For check-in on April 15/16, you can check in at the Boston Common Visitor Center with your Boston Movie Tours guide starting 30 minutes prior start time.

After checking out a filming location on the Common, we will board the bus for the complete Theater-on-Wheels experience.



Boston Common Visitors Center.
147 Tremont Street
Next to the Park St. MBTA stop. (red & green line)

MAP OF MEETING LOCATION

If you have any last minute questions, please call 866-668-4345, ext 2. Or email us at info@bostonmovietours.net.

Press Release - The Departed Not Departed from Boston

Boston Movie Tours is thrilled to officially announce that we have added The Departed to the 2007 edition of our movie tours along with a new Mob Movie Tour (summer 2007). Over 10 new locations have been added to the experience.

READ THE OFFICIAL RELEASE that was put on the wire Tuesday morning.

Let's just hope the sequel (keep your fingers crossed) brings as much excitement

Tours Begin April 7th

It is just over a week away from opening day of the 2007 season for Boston Movie Tours. We just spent the day training some very talented new movie guides. Spent a good amount of time covering all the new The Departed locations including the new stop at the building where the climatic rooftop scene took place.

We also covered some of the new locations for Kevin Spacey's new 21 gambling movie. It is definitely going to be an exciting season.

Mark Wahlberg - From Shooter to Boxer

Mark Wahlberg is certainly one busy Boston guy. After coming a bit short on the Best Supporting Actor for his role in The Departed, Walhberg is out promoting his new Shooter movie coming out this Friday. On his Jay Leno appearance last night, Mark said it was one of the toughest physical roles he’s ever had.

Walberg also let us know he is training hard for an upcoming Boston area boxing movie with Matt Damon called The Fighter. The movie is base on the true life story of ''Irish'' Micky Ward's rise to the lightweight title. According to Variety, filming is due to start this summer.

A Baby Meets The Departed

February 28th was a great day all around on a Boston Movie Tours front and on a personal side. First off, my wife and I gave birth to our 3rd child and future tour guide Katelyn. After traveling to the hospital at 7am, Katelyn was born about 12:45pm. All ten toes and fingers were in place.

Future Tour Guide. If you like baby pics, check em out here.

TIME FOR THE DEPARTED INTERVIEW

After the birth, I quickly scurried over to South Boston for a live interview with Fox 25 to discuss The Departed filming locations. There is nothing like shooting a live spot on Broadway Southie at rush hour with all the honking cars :).

The funny thing is we had planned this on the 27th and had all kinds of backup interview plans in place (Thanks Jeff Kalligeri). But the timing worked out perfectly. In the spirit of Matt Damon’s text messaging skills in The Departed, Melanie from Fox 25 and I were in contact most of the day via text messages. She probably knew about the baby sooner than most of my family. Everything went pretty well for the interview and looks like we’ll be setting something else up in April. Then it was back to the hospital.

Watch Video

Media Blitz Monday on The Departed

My slow Monday going to the dentist turned into two different local news appearances highlighting local The Departed locations. “Can you be there in an hour?” was the first request. “If I don’t have any cavities.” I thought. Well, luckily the dentist gave me a clean bill of health and Boston Movie Tours was featured in two major news segments.

Oscar Night in Boston - The Departed Wins Big

Sunday night was a huge night for the city of Boston and The Departed as it scored 4 Oscars. I headed off to the Ellie Fund gala at the State Room around 7pm. My wife couldn’t attend as she is home ready to give birth to our 3rd child (I was on constant text message alert).

What a great place for an event. The gala overlooking Boston was first rate with big screens setup everywhere. Valerie at Avant Guard Events organized the gig which brought in big bucks for the Ellie Fund.

SEE ALL THE PICS


The Departed Cleans Up……
There was definitely a big buzz in the audience as the night went along. First off, local boy William Monahan won for best adapted screenplay for The Departed. Unfortunately, our other local favorite Mark Wahlberg lost out on Best Supporting Actor. After the The Departed won Best Editing, there was a lull in the room. Note to the Academy…..the Oscars don’t have to last 3 ½ hours!

But then WE won Best Picture (The Departed) and Best Director (Martin Scorsese) and the crowd went wild hi-fiving. I say “WE” because we Bostonians love to take ownership over local flicks. We are kind of proud like that. And I think that's exactly some of the character that shines through in our movies.

Celeb-wise, the event was a little lacking probably party due to the fact that Mark Wahlberg and crew were a little busy out in LA (Mark was nominated for Best Supporting Actor).

We also got a first glance at new marketing video for the Massachusetts Film Office thanks to Nick Paleologos, new executive director of the Massachusetts Film Office and Richard Krezwick. Featuring interviews from Matt Damon and Sean Penn, it will serve as a great piece that you will see on the Mass website shortly. Loved the background Boston song by Augustana.