Watch out, movie buffs: if you’re in Florence next week, you may stumble upon handsome Ryan Reynolds, director Michael Bay and the film crew shooting Six Underground, the action thriller set to become Netflix’s biggest budget movie.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, “the plot revolves around six billionaires who fake their own deaths and form an elite team to take down bad guys.”
And Florence’s historic center is a main set for the movie. Filming already took place between the 22nd and 31st of August, and is scheduled to resume from the 10th to the 21st of September, when shooting will concentrate in the areas around the Uffizi, Santa Croce, piazza Santa Maria Novella, San Lorenzo, piazza Goldoni, San Niccolò-viale Poggi, via Tornabuoni, along the Arno river, with forays into the Accademia and the Four Seasons, according to local media reports.
The mega car pursuit which is the opening scene for the movie, taking about 15 minutes, was filmed in August, and it will show several iconic corners and monuments of Florence’s historic center. Director Bay, enthusiastic about being in Florence, said a spectacular action scene like this had never before been filmed in the city.
A ‘base camp’ to assist with logistics has been set up in piazza Ognissanti, reports Firenze Today. The crew is composed of 450 people.
Reynolds hasn’t yet shown up for filming, and he’s said to arrive in Florence on September 17.
Expect street closures in all affected areas. Alternative parking areas will be provided for residents, while shuttles paid for by the film production will substitute re-routed buses. The renting of public spaces for the movie production is said to bring €1.5M to the city of Florence.
Filming is said to then move on to Rome, Siena and Taranto.
For Six Underground, Netflix is partnering with Skydance Media, which developed the project from a script by Deadpool screenwriters Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese. Release is scheduled for 2019.
