Oscar winner Nicolas Cage is filming a feature film, Humanity Bureau, in the South Okanagan.
After he was spotted in an Osoyoos grocery store earlier this week, a press release was issued from the Okanagan Film Commission on Wednesday stating principal photography is set to commence this week.
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“We are very pleased that this feature film is being shot here in its entirety in the Okanagan,” said Jon Summerland, film commissioner. “We are not just a location for a segment of the film and this will promote to other producers to see the Okanagan as a full production centre, not just a partial location, for their feature films.”
A pair of Penticton-based actors also have roles in the movie. Destee Klyne and her son Jett Klyne will be filming in the Humanity Bureau this month.
“It’s really exciting. It feels like life has given us both a big high five,” said Destee. “It is right in our own backyard, so basically no travel.”
The pair quite often travel to Vancouver for auditions and filming. They recently were in New York when Jett was up for a part in a Steven Spielberg movie. He read with Oscar Issac (Star Wars: Episode VII, Ex Machina).
“He got to meet the man himself (Spielberg) so that was pretty neat,” said Destee. “Jett had seen Jurrasic Park and The BFG so he understood who he was. It was a really cool experience. Jett adopted a cat from the SPCA and named him Leroy and as it turns out Steven Spielberg has a dog named Leroy so they had a good laugh about that and Jett was looking pictures at his Leroy.”
At just seven years old Jett has a growing resume which includes roles in the thriller The Boy which featured Lauren Cohan (The Walking Dead) and in a TV movie with Ashley Scott (A.I Artificial Intelligence) playing his mom. Destee just finished a role in the TV movie Heart Felt which will be shown on Lifetime.
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Despite his star power growing, Jett remains a normal kid.
“He often doesn’t even realize the people he is working side-by-side with, they are just other actors on the set. It is just normal for him. I have heard it said before what is normal for the spider is chaos for the fly. Jett is just a little spider on set. He has been doing this since he was five months old.”
The Humanity Bureau is an action/science fiction genre film with the tagline: “in the near future our government will decide who is expendable.”
According to Variety, the story is set in 2030 and with global warming destroying parts of the U.S. Midwest a government agency (Humanity Bureau) exiles members of the society deemed unproductive to a colony known as New Eden.
The film stars Cage (Snowden, Dog Eat Dog), Sarah Lind (Wolfcop), Jacob Davies (If I Stay) and multi-platinum lead singer of the punk rock band the Headstones, Hugh Dillon (Assault on Precinct 13). Cage plays the role of a caseworker investigating an appeal by a single mother and her son.
The Humanity Bureau is directed by Rob W. King (Moccasin Flats: Redemption, Hungry Hills, Tokyo Trials) and written by David Schultz (Blackstone, Rufus, 45 RPM).
The production company partners are Bridgegate Pictures, Minds Eye Entertainment and VMI Worldwide.