Backlot

Real Steel 
Director: Shawn Levy 
Stars: Hugh Jackman, Evangeline Lilly 

The buzz: Mr. tap-dance Wolverine himself stars as a down-on-his-luck pilot for a 7-foot-tall robot boxer. Filming for this mega-scale sci-fi farce has been taking place all over the area, including semi-urban Troy and the wide-open fields of Hartland Township. Security has been tight, since an on-set photo of one of the full-scale robot puppets leaked to certain geek blogs. Night at the Museum helmer Shawn Levy has been controlling the chaos and employing huge crowds of local extras all summer, with the climactic action set piece rumored to go down at Cobo Arena sometime between now and early September. 


LOL: Laughing out Loud 
Director: Lisa Azuelos
Stars: Demi Moore, Miley Cyrus, Thomas Jane 

The buzz: The achy-breaky hell-spawn continues her jailbreak from the House of Mouse in a slightly "racier" teen rom-com with a heavy social networking angle. Sure, whatevs. The former Ms. Montana also took a few more baby steps into the grown-up realm, and caused a hubbub, when she reportedly popped into Hamtramck's new dance club Marz Bar alongside MILFy co-star Demi Moore. We were on the scene and failed to glimpse the stars, but saw plenty of starfucking cheeseballs and beefy security guards. Demi was a lot more visible last week at the late game of the Tigers-White Sox doubleheader, where she tweeted away with her twitty hubbie Ashton Kutcher.


Machine Gun Preacher 
Director: Marc Forster 
Stars: Gerard Butler, Michelle Monaghan, Michael Shannon 

The buzz: The respected Marc Forster (Monster's Ball, Stranger than Fiction) is behind the camera for this biopic of a biker turned preacher turned defender of displaced Sudanese orphans. Shooting has occurred in spots around downtown. Hollywood's reigning party king Gerard Butler continues rolling like Tony Curtis in his prime, having been spotted in a number of local watering holes. Recently, the cast shook up sleepy Garden City, when Butler, Monaghan and the aforementioned Moore rocked Rockstarz Karaoke Bar, leaving the regular punters gobsmacked.