April 23, 2008
IN BRIEF: TOURISM, FILM AND THE ARTS NEWS

Zellweger movie will be filmed in Baltimore area

My One and Only, a feature film starring Renée Zellweger, will begin shooting next month in Maryland for eight weeks, Governor Martin O’Malley recently announced. The movie is set in the 1950s and is expected to be shot almost entirely in the Baltimore area.

“Having My One and Only shoot here will not only generate tremendous publicity and attract visitors and businesses, but also pump millions of dollars into the local economy, employ thousands of residents in high-paying, creative jobs and provide many area businesses with new opportunities.”

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“ We are thrilled to be here in Baltimore,” said Aaron Ryder, the film’s producer. “If not for the incentive provided by the state and the tenacity of the Maryland Film Office that lured us here, we would be shooting the film in a far less appropriate city.

During the first nine months of the current fiscal year, which began July 1, 2007, three feature films have been shot in Maryland – the recently released Disney film: Step Up 2:The Streets and two independent productions – as well as the final season of HBO’s The Wire.

In Fiscal Year 2007, Maryland hosted 404 days of filming, which included five feature films, a variety of independent films and projects, and more than a dozen television productions. The state economy received a $70 million boost from those projects.