Blame Samuel L. Jackson

His predilection for picking up every movie script placed on his desk and saying "book it, Dano"--as well as my penchant for watching the finished products on HBO throughout the years--is culpable for the The Effrontery's random return.

[Just wait 'til I show her my Windu]

I'll get to my point in a moment, but here's the deal: Last January, The Effrontery rode into town and started throwing up daily posts about all manner of things--mostly sports-related. This was fun for its not-so-humble author, but time-consuming and taxing as well. Pretty much, what was intended to be a creative outlet featuring a mélange of things I deem noteworthy quickly became a bit of a nuisance. By February 2008, things were put on hold and not a peep since... Jump to January 2009, Tracy Morgan has welcomed us to Post-Racial America, and I plan to start posting again. It will be very sporadic... perhaps once a week, perhaps once a month. Perhaps all ova yo face when you're sleeping at night. Who knows??? [ed. note: not you; that's the point]

["Deal with it, Cate Blanchett."]

Anyway, back to Jules Winnfield. I wanted to watch a quick movie the other night and the 90-minute "Jumper" was taking up space in my DVR. "Hey, this is a Samuel L. joint," I thought. So I decided to give it a whirl. Not two minutes in and it's clear that the movie was filmed in Ann Arbor! You know when people tell you they "laughed out loud" about something and it doesn't resonate because that's just another way of emphasizing a point? Well, when I tell you that I started laughing hysterically for a good minute or two, please pause for a second and understand the gravity of the moment.

So many questions. They filmed a blockbuster action movie in Ann Arbor? When? Why film in Michigan? How the hell did I now know about this? I knew of "Jumper" when it was released--it was one of those movies with the pre-holiday-weekend-you-will-see-this-big-budget-action-movie-or-die advertising campaigns--but somehow the most important detail never made it on to my radar. Well, then. You know what happened next... It took 2 hours and 5 minutes to watch a 90-minute movie because I spent a crazy amount of time pausing and rewinding various scenes to judge the verity of the set design and locate the chosen backdrops. Holy balls, man! I'd estimate about 1/3 of the movie was shot in Ann Arbor, maybe even more, with some extra scenes filmed throughout the state of Michigan and parts of Ontario [ed. note: I think the Mackinac Bridge made an appearance towards the end]. Beyond simply being shot there, Ann Arbor was actively featured throughout the movie.

[This water tower in Peterborough, Ontario was depicted in "Jumper" with 'Ann Arbor' superimposed on the facade]
(Photo Credit: flickr user Richmann)

There were several bar scenes in which Maize & Blue-clad patrons swilled their drinks while taking in a Michigan vs. Penn State football game [ed. note: it was very subdued for a gameday bar crowd. Just saying]. The movie wasn't very good, even for so-called mind candy, but it proved very fascinating and pleasing to me--a known chronicler of anything even tenuously related to The University of Michigan. One of my initial questions when discovering Ann Arbor's presence in the movie--namely, "Why film in Michigan?"--led me to do a little sleuthing. I figured one of the producers was an alum and decided to use The Deuce in his flick. Turns out, I was pretty damn close. Writer David S. Goyer was born and raised in Ann Arbor:

Graduated from USC School of Cinema-Television (1988).

Graduated from Huron High School in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Was Teaching Assistant to screenwriter Nelson Gidding at USC.

Sold his comic book collection en masse to the drummer from System of a Down, John Dolmayan.

Emphasis mine. That explains a whole lot. Especially the USC part, which accounts for the way he mailed in the ending (zing!). I do, however, respect the fact that the sale of his comic book collection to an Armenian rocker was prominent among his career trivia. Anyway, Goyer's roots were likely instrumental in his decision to write Ann Arbor into the movie, but I discovered another interesting thing along the way. This was written one year ago, almost to the date:

...Michigan offers a tax rebate of up to 20 percent to production companies that shoot movies, TV shows, and commercials in the state. But that no longer has the bling it once did, film industry insiders say.

"Twenty percent isn't going to do it. You really need to have a headline, says Mike Binder, a Detroit native who wrote and directed "The Upside of Anger," a 2005 film starring Joan Allen and Kevin Costner. Although the plot was set in a Detroit suburb, the movie was filmed in London.

Binder visited Lansing recently to lobby lawmakers for a 40 percent rebate, which would be the country's highest.

In continuing the Sisyphean task of righting Michigan's economy, state lawmakers passed the legislation by the Ides of March 2008, and your current Michigan Film Production Incentives now boil down to this:

...

40% refundable tax credit against Michigan Business Tax (MBT) liability for qualified film or digital media pre-production, production, and postproduction costs incurred in Michigan. Alternatively could be claimed against Michigan Income tax withholding tax liability.

Refundable and assignable (transferable). This is a "refund" or "tax rebate" equal to 40% of qualified production expenditures, not a credit against taxes owed. Additional 2% credit in core communities.

...

So where the hell am I going with all this? Right to this man:

[You'll shoot your eye out]

The Independent Voice of Central Michigan University, otherwise known as Central Michigan Life, reported Monday that Michigan's film industry is beginning to thrive. We're all familiar with that news source's "Independent Voice" and tendency to suck back on some of Grandpa's old cough syrup before publishing things, but now The Freep is starting to talk about a $100 million film studio that may land in Allen Park. And of course, Clint Eastwood's "Gran Torino" just became the first feature under Michigan's new incentives to open in theaters. The film took the No. 1 spot at the box office this past weekend to the tune of $29.5 million. Michigan's economy needs all the help it can get and I, for one, welcome more cinematic sightings of Ann Arbor in the future. Incidentally, I also welcome our new insect overlords. WOTS is that Drew Barrymore just finished up a rollerderby movie that was filmed in The Deuce and that means it's only a matter of time before Samuel L. comes back for more. My DVR is ready.