Actor Kevin Costner made several stops in Iowa last week with his band. Now, there’s word another Hollywood hunk will soon be in the vicinity. George Clooney will be in Omaha-Council Bluffs to shoot a movie this spring. Dana Markel, at the Omaha Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, says Clooney and the film crew will be there for several days.
Markel says, "They’ll come in and they’ll shoot some things in the city but who knows how much of Omaha will remain in the film once we see it on the big screen." Clooney, who won an Academy Award for his role in the 2005 film "Syriana," will be in eastern Nebraska/western Iowa to shoot a movie called "Up in the Air."
It’ll be directed by Jason Reitman, who also directed the 2007 hit "Juno.’ Reitman and his crew have already been in Omaha several times scouting locations. Markel says Clooney will play the main character, a corporate down-sizer who is obsessed with getting one-million frequent flier miles.
She says: "It’s a story of a business executive who lives his life on a plane moving from city to city. The company then chooses to ground him and the corporate headquarters is in Omaha, Nebraska." Markel says Clooney’s character will have no choice but to call Omaha home.
"This executive doesn’t have a personal life," she says. "He lives his life in the fast lane. The company then chooses to ground him and he has to form a life in Omaha." Markel says some of the scenes will be shot inside the Visitor’s Bureau and in a condo in the Old Market area of downtown Omaha.