CINCINNATI — Bruce Willis is coming back to the Queen City in late August to film a second major motion picture here with director Steven C. Miller, according to a report by Deadline Hollywood.
Deadline announced Miller will direct action thriller “First Kill." Willis will star in the film as a police chief trying to solve a kidnapping case.
Willis and Miller previously worked together on the bank heist movie "Marauders," which filmed in Cincinnati last October.
In a WCPO interview before the July 1 “Marauders" premiere at the Esquire Theatre, Miller said he loved shooting in the region and planned to return soon. At the time, though, he was unable to provide more details about the upcoming project.
Thursday’s news comes a day after the Greater Cincinnati Film Commission announced John Travolta will begin shooting a new biopic in Cincinnati on July 25 about famed New York mob boss John Gotti. That movie, “The Life and Death of John Gotti,” also stars actress Kelly Preston, Travolta’s wife. Kevin Connolly, who portrays manager Eric Murphy in the “Entourage” franchise, will direct the production.
“First Kill” and "The Life and Death of John Gotti” will join other movies filming in Greater Cincinnati over the next two months.
"Girl from Compton," a biopic chronicling the life of R&B singer Michel’le, began filming in Cincinnati in June. Hollywood actor and producer James Franco, who previously filmed a movie in Butler County, will return to the region by the end of this month to begin shooting two more movies. Franco shot both "Goat" and "The Long Home" in Greater Cincinnati in the spring of 2015.
Film commission executive director Kristen Erwin Schlotman attributed a revision to the Ohio Motion Picture Tax Credit for the recent uptick in film production in the region. This month the state doubled the yearly cap for the tax incentive program to $40 million. The program reimburses out-of-state movie producers for payroll and other expenses.
