Filming for Tom Cruise's new movie One Shot may make its way onto Duquesne's campus within the next week, according to a University spokeswoman. Duquesne spokesperson Rose Ravasio filming will close between Sixth Avenue and McAnulty Drive, the road leading through Duquesne's main gate, Wednesday night. The 10th Street Bridge and the Armstrong Tunnel were also closed. "In the movie, there is a car chase scene that goes over the [10th Street] bridge and through the
Armstrong Tunnel," said Alan Asbury, representative for the Pittsburgh Department of Public Works. "They then turn right on to Forbes and go up McAnulty [Drive] and that's where the scene ends."Duquesne's pedestrian bridge and stairs to the South Side were closed last weekend from last Friday, Oct. 28 to Sunday, Oct. 30. The Armstrong Tunnel and 10th Street Bridge were also closed on Friday and Saturday nights.
The 10th Street Bridge and the Armstrong Tunnel will be closed again between 7 p.m. and 8 a.m. from Saturday Nov. 5 to Tuesday Nov. 8 because of filming, according to an email from Duquesne's office of Public Affairs.
In addition, the email stated that on the same days, parts of 10th Street between the PJ McArdle Roadway and Muriel Street will be closed, along with Muriel Street between 10th and 11th Streets, Bingham and Sarah Streets between 9th and 11th Streets, and Cabot and Selby Ways between 9th and 10th Streets. Parking on those streets also will be unavailable at that time.
Since the movie started filming in Pittsburgh on October 3, the City of Pittsburgh and the Pittsburgh Film Office have issued local road closings for filming. According to Dawn Keezer, director of the Pittsburgh Film Office, the film will finish shooting in Pittsburgh in January. The film is scheduled to be released in 2013.
Paramount Pictures has obtained traffic obstruction permits to film in many locations throughout the city, including the South Side, Lawrenceville, Downtown and the Strip District, Asbury said. Film companies are required to have a machinery permit and an obstruction permit to stop traffic and set up equipment to film scenes. Asbury said that of the few thousand obstruction permits given by Department of Public Works each year, 300-400 are for films.
"When a movie comes to town, the first thing that happens is the Pittsburgh Film Office arranges a meeting with me and the producers," Asbury said. "We sit down and discuss their needs."Asbury added that producers are also required to meet with other city departments, including police and fire departments and the mayor's office, before they can begin filming.
According to a list on the Pittsburgh Film Office's website, more than 150 films and TV shows have been shot in Pittsburgh since 1914. They include recent films The Dark Knight Rises, The Next Three Days, Love and Other Drugs and The Mothman Prophecies, as well as classics such as The Silence of the Lambs, Night of the Living Dead and Angels in the Outfield.
According to Keezer, filmmakers are attracted to the city because of its appearance and Pennsylvania's Film Tax Credit, which reduces the taxes required to film in Pennsylvania by 25 percent if the filmmakers spend at least 60 percent of their filming budget in-state.
Parts of Duquesne's campus were also featured in The Next Three Days and Love and Other Drugs, which were filmed in 2009. "We get a lot inquiries from location managers to come up and look [at the campus]," Ravasio said. "If we're able to help out and accommodate them, we like to help."