Okay, so my neck of the woods has never really been known as a entertainment mecca. Yeah, Marilyn Manson is originally from here, alot of celebs like Halle Berry, Dave Chappelle, even Steven Spielberg comes from Ohio but still a movie has never been filmed outside of Cleveland ...until now that is. Good ol' Canton, Ohio just 10 minutes away is going to be the home of a film entitled Finding Sonny come June. That's right, a biopic of boxer Sonny Liston. And who will play the fine young lad...

That honor would go to the man, Ving Rhames. How cool is that. Ving Rhames kickin' it in Canton for 21 days (95 % of the shoot...the rest I am assume on some sound stage somewhere). Apparently Rhames and the director, Michael Watkins (who has won two Emmys and is making his feature film directorial debut), were in town yesterday scouting for places to shoot. They said they want to shoot up and down Cleveland Avenue and want to shoot in front of the Canton Palace Theatre. Yeah, you heard it right, the Palace where I am on the Art Film Committee. And this 2.5 million dollar movie seems to fit that Art Film bill. I have a feeling we will have some stuff to do with the shoot if all goes well. Pretty exciting stuff. I will clue you all end as more info comes along but my ass will try to get involved in this project, in some shape or form. The film will also star Will Patton, William Baldwin, Chazz Palminteri, Jim Brown, Vincent Pastore and Frank Vincent (the latter two of Sopranos fame). Both the star and the director loved the architecture of the city and and the Watkins' exact words were that he got more than he bargained for when he got here.

Pretty cool news, I think.