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Vegas hosts two more movies

June 18, 2007 - 9:00 pm
 

Good things come in threes, as two more movies join “Yonkers Joe” on location in Las Vegas.

The tale of a dice hustler (Chazz Palminteri) reconnecting with his mentally challenged son (Tom Guiry), “Yonkers Joe” heads into its third week at various downtown locations, from the Las Vegas Club to the Plaza. Robert Celestino writes and directs.

“Baby-O,” which began a monthlong shoot Thursday, focuses on the romance between a failing talent agent (David Proval, alias “The Sopranos’ ” Richie Aprile) and a jazz singer client (Theresa Russell, “Spider-Man 3’s” Emma Marko). Proval scripted with his wife, Cheryl Meccariello; Charlie Matthau directs.

And “The Return,” from “Illusionist” director Neil Burger, follows a trio of Iraq war veterans on a cross-country odyssey leading from New York to Las Vegas. “Mystic River” Oscar-winner Tim Robbins, “Wedding Crashers’ ” Rachel McAdams and Michael Peña (“Shooter”) lead the cast.

“Return” engagement: In addition to expected locations on the Strip and at the Regional Justice Center, “The Return” also plans to shoot at the new DreamVision complex (located at Eastern Avenue and Sunset Road), where special-effects wizards will re-create a hailstorm and shoot scenes featuring a Boeing 767 fuselage in an 11,000-square-foot studio.

Production officials also hope to restore a deleted battle scene — and film it at DreamVision’s 50-acre ranch in Pioche, where they can “build and blow up anything they want,” explains Phyllis Carreon-Taie, who owns and runs DreamVision with partner Guillaume Guy.

“Baby-O” steps: Named for a Johnny Mercer-Dean Rotella song recorded by Dean Martin, “Baby-O” represents a cinematic homecoming of sorts for director Matthau (“The Grass Harp”), who first caught the filmmaking bug as a boy, during a summer he spent with his Oscar-winning father, Walter Matthau, on location throughout small-town Nevada for the 1973 bank-heist thriller “Charley Varrick.”

The movie’s veteran director, Don Siegel (“Dirty Harry”), was “very paternal,” Matthau recalls, even when the youngster peppered him with questions. “I thought, wow, this Don guy has the greatest job.” More than three decades later, so does Matthau.

Quick bites: The Food Network’s Giada De Laurentiis wraps up a whirlwind Las Vegas stay today for “Giada’s Weekend Getaways,” from the Denver-based Colorado Production Group, with scheduled stops along the Strip, at the Liberace Museum and the Richard Petty Driving Experience — plus a helicopter tour of Glitter City.

And senior correspondent Jason Jones of Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” hits the Strip for a field piece airing later this month.

Carol Cling’s Shooting Stars column appears Mondays. Contact her at 383-0272 or e-mail her at ccling@reviewjournal.com.

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