Cathrine Deneuve, Sandrine Bonnaire, Oleg Menshikov, Regis Wargnier, Michael Cacoyannis, Alleb Bates, Charlotte Rampling, Christopher Lambert, Max von Sydow, Klaus Maria Brandauer, Ermanno Olmi, Harvey Keitel, Steve Buscemi, Mira Sorvino, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Val Kilmer, Christian Slater and Daryl Hannah are among the Hollywood and European stars that have filmed in Bulgaria in the past couple of years. As their names suggest, the movies that were shot here spanned quite a few genres: action, psychological drama, historical epic, thrillers, sci-fi and romance. The US company New Image has shot no less than 16 action films here. After the Slavia sports facility was temporarily converted into a sound stage there are now plans to construct a mini-Hollywood in the vicinity of the Pancharevo lake near Sofia. Val Kilmer, Christian Slater and Daryl Hannah are the stars of the last Nu Image production shot in Bulgaria, `In God We Trust`. It is directed by US-based Serbian director Predgrag Antonijevic. The cast is completed by the world`s shortest actor, Verne Troyer.
Van Damme`s `The Monk` is shaping up as New Image`s biggest production for 2001. Van Damme shot `The Order` here last year and has decided to return as a director this autumn. Germany-based Bulgarian Daisy Lang (Desislava Kirova), a world boxing champ, will co-star. At the moment, she is making her feature debut in an installment of New Image`s `US SEALs` series which is being shot in Bulgaria.
Briton Gary Daniels, former Miss Ottawa Teresa Sherrer and Italian TV personality Romina Mondello co-starred in `Queen`s Messenger`, the first of a number of movies that British producer Harry Alan Towers plans to film in Bulgaria.
French actress/singer/TV personality/model Ophelie Winter stars in the Towers-produced romantic adventure `She`. Towers also plans a screen adaptation of Mihael Bar-Zoar`s `Out of Hitler`s Grip` novel on the rescue of Bulgarian Jews during WWII. The Holocaust theme was also present in the `Grey Zone` shot in 2000 by Tim Nelson with Harvey Keitel, Steve Buscemi and Mira Sorvino again for Nu Image. Keitel has come up with a script for a comedy he wants to shoot for Nu Image in Bulgaria this autumn. The action in the yet untitled project is set in early 20th century New York.
Roy Sheider and Luca Zingaretti starred as a US colonel and an Italian POW in a WWII drama `Texas 46` shot in 2000 by Giorgio Serafini. The production design was done by Osvaldo Desideri who has worked with Bertolucci and Fellini, among
others.
Cathrine Deneuve, Sandrine Bonnaire, Oleg Menshikov starred in Regis Wargnier`s `Est-Ouest`. This dramatization of events from the Stalinist era received an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. The same theme will be picked up by the Bulgarian-Russian co-production scheduled for this autumn `Roses Blossom under All Regimes`.
Jacques Dorfmann`s epic `Vercingetorix`, starring Klaus-Maria Brandauer, Max von Sydow and Christopher Lambert, recounts events from Roman history. Ermanno Olmi cast Bulgarian actor Hristo Jivkov in the role of a 16th century Italian `Don Juan` in `Il Mestiere delle Armi`. Another Bulgarian, Desi Tenekedjieva, was cast in the role of the wife. The film was not honoured at the Cannes festival but grossed one million Deutsche marks and was the biggest box office draw in Italy after `The Mummy Returns`.
Dean Cain (`Louise&Clark: the New Adventures of Superman`), Simone Mcinnon (`Baywatch`), Dana Ashbrook (`Twin Peaks`), Adam Baldwin (`Independence Day`, `The Patriot`), Lance Hanricsen (`The Alien`) and actress/ singer Robin Givens are among the stars of a sci-fi series shot by the US UFO company and the Bulgarian Bright Ideas film studio.Skilled filming crews, low production and labour costs and varied landscapes are among the reasons attracting foreign filmmakers to Bulgaria.
The Boyana Film center co-produced and provided services and shooting pavilions to more than 30 foreign productions in the past four years. The most visited shooting locations are Sofia and its surroundings, the rock formations in Belogradchik and the Black Sea coast.
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