Audio By Carbonatix
Rumor ’round town is that another TV show’s setting up production offices in Dallas — this one, from the man responsible for everything from Armageddon and Top Gun to the C.S.I. franchise, among his myriad hit teevee shows. And, yes, that’s one Jerry Bruckheinmer, the man who once told me he makes entertainment “for the common man.” The latest entry in the Bruckheimer canon is Chase, about U.S. Marshals tracking down “down the nation’s most notorious criminals” from a base somewhere in “the American Southwest.” Which does narrow it down.
I called Bruckheimer’s HQ in Santa Monica this morning to confirm that offices are being set up in Dallas. The people to whom I spoke there said, sorry, but they can’t say anything about anything — but they’ll try to find someone who can. I asked Janis Burklund, head of the Dallas Film Commission, who refused to comment other than to say Bruckheimer’s production company has been scouting for locations here and presumably elsewhere in advance of shooting a pilot.
But then there’s this. On Friday, costumer Carla Shivener tweeted her big news: “Got a Bruckheimer pilot! Prepping in LA in March and shooting in Dallas.”
Still, it’s awful early: There was a story only last week about who they’d like to cast as the female lead — Tea Leoni, Christina Applegate or Maria Bello. (Please let it be Maria Bello.)
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At the moment, business is booming: Matt Nix’s Code 58, with Bradley Whitford and Colin Hanks as Dallas Police detectives, is shooting all over town and at Fair Park till July; it has a 13-episode guarantee. The Deep End still has its set in Las Colinas should it return; and while reaction and ratings suggest Billy Zane’s come and gone, there’s been no official word from Fox or ABC yet.
Update: I have it on good authority that, yes, the pilot is shooting here. But, sorry, the Bruckheimer people don’t really like to comment on pilots. So, for now, that’s that.
