Filming in Vancouver: Dwayne Johnson, Singularity, UnReal, and more

Get ready, kids, because a Rock is going to hurtle through the sky and hit our town in the near future.

But before that, a tech comedy starts shooting, a holistic detective is back to solve some mysteries, and a TV series about reality TV (how meta is that?) is calling it a wrap.

That’s all in this week’s roundup of what’s shooting in Vancouver. Interested? Well, let’s get to it, shall we?

Right off the top, a Hollywood blockbuster is coming to town this summer.

Skyscraper, directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber, is scheduled to shoot in Vancouver from August 14 to November 17.

In this hostage action-thriller set in China, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson (Baywatch) stars as a former FBI hostage rescue team leader and a U.S. war veteran named Will Ford, who assesses the security of skyscrapers.

Unfortunately for him, while working in China, he’s framed for a fire that alights in the world’s tallest skyscraper located there. Not only must he clear his name and find those responsible for the blaze, but he also has to race against time to rescue his family who are trapped in the burning mega-structure.

Aside from Johnson, the rest of the cast hasn’t been revealed yet.

The choice of Vancouver for the movie shoot makes sense, due to our multicultural and multilingual population and variety of cultural settings.

Thanks to Metro Vancouver’s large Chinese Canadian population and businesses in areas like Chinatown and Richmond, the production team should be able to find both local talent and a number of locales that can serve as settings in China, in addition to locations that can also be used as North American backdrops if required.

But it’s going to be awhile before you can see the final product—the film is slated for a theatrical release on July 13, 2018.

Meanwhile, production on the TV pilot for Singularity gets underway today (May 8) and continues until May 17.

This sci-fi comedy about artificial intelligence is directed by none other than Vancouver-bred Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg.

It’s set in a future in which artificial intelligence has outpaced human intelligence, and it stars Damon Wayans Jr. (New Girl) as a guy who readily embraces the benefits of technology. His outspoken and opinionated girlfriend, played by Michelle Buteau (Enlisted), also uses technology to get what she wants.

Amanda Lund (Fresh Off the Boat) will play a PhD graduate who no longer has use for her degree and instead devotes herself to quirky pursuits.

The cast will also include Samuel Patrick Chu (Imposters) and Langston Kerman (Insecure).

Also as we previously mentioned, the comedy-thriller TV series Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency also kicks off production on Season 2.

Samuel Barnett stars as the titular, eccentric investigator, who is reluctantly assisted by Todd (Elijah Wood).

Canadian actor Tyler Labine (Rise of the Planet of the Apes) will play the role of Sherlock. But not the Sherlock you’re probably thinking of. This time around, it’s Sherlock Hobbs, an overly enthusiastic smalltown sheriff.

Osric Chau (Supernatural), who plays Vogel of the Rowdy 3, has been upgraded to a series regular for this season.

The cast includes Hannah Marks, Fiona Dourif, Jade Eshete, Mpho Kaoho, and Michael Eklund.

A TV series that’s wrapping up this week is UnReal.

Production on Season 3 of the series ends on Thursday (May 11), having started on February 1.

Shiri Appleby (Girls) stars as a young TV producer pressured by her boss, played by Constance Zimmer (House of Cards), to do whatever it takes to boost ratings.

The cast includes Craig Bierko, Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman, Josh Kelly, and Freddie Stroma.

This season also saw the addition of numerous new faces added to the mix: Tracie Thoms (Cold Case), playing a lesbian entertainment executive; Caitlin Fitzgerald (Masters of Sex), as a Silicon Valley venture capitalist; and Brandon Jay McLaren (Ransom) as a psychologist.

Other additions include Kassandra Clementi (Home and Away) and Jaime Callica (Power Rangers).

And that’s all for this week but tune in again next week, true believers, for more on what’s happening on the streets of Hollywood North.