Ann Arbor's ex-Pfizer site turns into movie set for filming of 'Trust'
For its first act under University of Michigan ownership, the ex-Pfizer facilities in northern Ann Arbor will play host to a movie.
The 174-acre campus, acquired in June for $108 million by the university, will serve as a filming site for "Trust." The movie, directed by "Friends" star David Schwimmer, stars Clive Owen and begins filming in November.
Officials said "Trust" is expected to hire U-M students as production assistants and extras. Specific hiring projections were not immediately clear.
The film will be shot at the ex-Pfizer site, renamed the North Campus Research Complex, before the university populates the site with its own workers.
The site is in pristine condition, and Pfizer left all of the furniture, desks and chairs when it abandoned the 2-million-square-foot site in 2008. U-M is expected to move workers to the site beginning in early 2010.
Officials from U-M's film office, opened in 2008, approved the filming of "Trust." The movie "is a suspense-drama that sensitively addresses the topics of cyber stalking, rape and a father's rage over his daughter's trauma," according to a news release. AnnArbor.com reported two weeks ago that Schwimmer had approached the university with a script.
“Of all the scripts I've read in reviewing proposals for use of campus space for films, "Trust" is the most meaningful and important,” said Lee Doyle, director of the U-M Film Office, in a statement. “We are delighted to be able to accommodate the project and are eager for the opportunity it presents for our students and to stimulate the economy of our state.”
Filming for the movie is taking place in multiple locations in the area, including Plymouth and Dexter High School - where filming starts Nov. 7 for four days.
Contact AnnArbor.com's Nathan Bomey at (734) 623-2587 or nathanbomey@annarbor.com. You can also follow him on Twitter.
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