Disney preparing to bring Hollywood to Lynn

LYNN – Bruce Willis and several other actors are scheduled to bring a touch of Hollywood glamour to Lynn later this month when production begins on a sci-fi thriller.The megawatt actor is set to star in the Disney movie, “The Surrogates”, which is being directed by Jonathan Mostow.Andrea Scalise, mayoral aide to Mayor Edward J. Clancy Jr., said a crew would be coming to Lynn later this month to film scenes and will reportedly stay through June.”We (movie and city officials) looked at a couple of areas around Lynn Woods and the Pennybrook Road area,” she said. “They also want to film a chase scene downtown at the end of June.”Disney is also looking into renting a vacant downtown property from The Hall Company to incorporate into the movie set.Paul Amirault, chief operating officer for the Hall Company said he was approached by Disney to rent out the former woodworkers warehouse at 110 Munroe St. and accepted.”I heard that they’re going to film at three different locations in the city and that they have a very strict schedule,” he said. “I think Bruce Willis will only actually be in the city filming for a couple of hours in June, and I heard there would be a helicopter scene, so that should be interesting.”Scalise said Disney would start building out the spaces at the end of this month, which they reportedly want to resemble buildings in downtown Boston.The movie is set in a futuristic world where humans live in isolation and interact through surrogate robots.Willis will reportedly play a cop who uses his surrogate to investigate the murders of others’ surrogates until a conspiracy case forces him to venture from his own home for the first time in nine years.Michael Ferris and John Brancato wrote the script based on a graphic novel from Top Shelf Comix.The anticipated release date is November 2009.Scalise said aside from the excitement of having movie stars in Lynn, the movie would also have a positive economic impact on the city.”They will essentially be parked in the city for a number of weeks,” she said. “It’s very affordable for movie companies to look at cities outside of Boston, especially with the tax credits the state offers.”In 2006, Massachusetts enacted the credits and lured 88 film productions and more than $500 million in spending.Production companies who incur at least $50,000 of production costs in the state are eligible for income and corporate excise tax credits equal to 25 percent of the total Massachusetts payroll for the production, excluding salaries of $1 million and higher.In addition, production companies whose state production expenses exceed 50 percent of the total production cost receive an income and corporate excise tax credit of 25 percent of the total Massachusetts production expense.