CINCINNATI — New Bruce Willis movie "First Kill," which was scheduled to start filming in Cincinnati in late August, is relocating to Columbus.
The movie's director, Steven C. Miller, confirmed via email that production company Emmett/Furla/Oasis moved the entire production of "First Kill"to the state capital.
"Cincy was too busy for us," Miller wrote.
And PS. We didn't "dump" #Cincinnati HAHAHAHA. Busy is also a compliment. Every city should hope to be as busy.
— Steven C Miller (@stevencmiller) August 12, 2016
Emmett/Furla/Oasis is the same company that is producing the New York mob boss biopic "The Life and Death of John Gotti," starring John Travolta and Kelly Preston. That movie, directed by Kevin Connolly, began filming July 25 in Finneytown and is expected to wrap up sometime next month.
"First Kill" would have been the second movie Miller and Willis filmed in the Queen City within a year. They previously worked together on the bank heist movie "Marauders," which was set entirely in Cincinnati, last October.
Miller said in a June interview with WCPO that he planned to come back to the Queen City before the end of summer. A July report by Deadline Hollywood reiterated that initial report and provided the movie's plot, which has Willis playing a police chief trying to solve a kidnapping case.
"Girl from Compton," a biopic chronicling the life of R&B singer Michel’le, also began filming in Cincinnati in June. Hollywood actor and producer James Franco, who shot both "Goat" and "The Long Home" in Greater Cincinnati in the spring of 2015, recently returned to the region to begin scouting for two more movies.
Kristen Erwin Schlotman, executive director of the Greater Cincinnati & Northern Kentucky Film Commission, was unavailable for comment. However, she previously attributed a revision to the Ohio Motion Picture Tax Credit, which reimburses out-of-state movie producers for payroll and other expenses, for the recent uptick in film production in the region. The state doubled the yearly cap for the tax incentive program to $40 million, an increase that went into effect on July 1.
Miller, who repeatedly has said he loved working in Cincinnati, appeared to find some consolation for having to shift production to Columbus, according to an update he posted Tuesday on Twitter.
I'm digging #Columbus so far. Even went to #TheEagle. Felt like cincy all over again.
— Steven C Miller (@stevencmiller) August 10, 2016
