Lionsgate announced today that filming has started for Kim Jee-Woon’s action film The Last Stand, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Zach Gilford, Forest Whitaker, Luis Guzman, Rodrigo Santoro, Johnny Knoxville, Jaimie Alexander, Eduardo Noriega, Peter Stormare and Harry Dean Stanton.
LIONSGATE®, a leading global entertainment company, is pleased to announce the start of production on Kim Jee-Woons THE LAST STAND, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. The announcement was made by the President of Lionsgates Motion Picture Group Joe Drake, and President of Production Michael Paseornek.
The shoot, which begins on October 17, 2011, will take place across locations in New Mexico and Nevada.
Rounding out the cast are Zach Gilford (FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS), Forest Whitaker (THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND), Luis Guzman (CARLITOS WAY, BOOGIE NIGHTS), Rodrigo Santoro (CHE, I LOVE YOU PHILLIP MORRIS), Johnny Knoxville (The JACKASS films), Jaimie Alexander (THOR), Eduardo Noriega (OPEN YOUR EYES), Peter Stormare (FARGO, THE BIG LEBOWSKI) and Harry Dean Stanton (AILIEN, THE GREEN MILE).
Korean action-suspense master Kim Jee-Woon (A TALE OF TWO SISTERS, THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE WEIRD) is directing the film, which is based on a spec script by Andrew Knauer that was subsequently rewritten by Jeffrey Nachmanoff. Lionsgate has domestic and international distribution rights, with the film having pre-sold well in several overseas territories prior to its production. Lorenzo di Bonaventura is producing the film through his di Bonaventura Pictures.
Schwarzenegger stars as Sheriff Owens, a man who has resigned himself to a life of fighting what little crime takes place in sleepy border town Sommerton Junction after leaving his LAPD post following a bungled operation that left him wracked with failure and defeat after his partner was crippled. After a spectacular escape from an FBI prisoner convoy, the most notorious, wanted drug kingpin in the hemisphere is hurtling toward the border at 200 mph in a specially outfitted car with a hostage and a fierce army of gang members. He is headed, it turns out, straight for Summerton Junction, where the whole of the U.S. law enforcement will have their last opportunity to make a stand and intercept him before he slips across the border forever. At first reluctant to become involved, and then counted out because of the perceived ineptitude of his small town force, Owens ultimately accepts responsibility for one of the most daring face offs in cinema history.
Schwarzenegger, Knoxville and Jee-Woon are represented by CAA. Santoro and Stormare are represented by ICM, with Guzman represented by the Gersh Agency, and Whitaker and Gilford represented by WME. Stanton is represented by Bresler-Kelly and Associates. The cast deals were negotiated on behalf of Lionsgate by Robert Melnik, Executive Vice President of Business Affairs.
