Big-screen Arizona hotshots movie begins filming, release date set
Jun 13, 2016, 11:14 AM
(AP Photo)
(AP Photo)
PHOENIX — Filming has begun and a release date has been set for a movie about Arizona’s Granite Mountain Hotshots.
“Granite Mountain” started filming Monday in New Mexico. The movie about the 19 firefighters killed in a blaze near Prescott, Arizona in June 2013.
The movie, to be released Sept. 22, 2017, stars Jeff Bridges, Josh Brolin, Miles Teller and Taylor Kitsch.
The Prescott Daily Courier reported that the production company leased the vehicles that were used by the Hotshots.
There was no word whether or not any of the film would be shot in Arizona.
Only one crew member survived the June 30 Yarnell Hill fire. Brendan McDonough was stationed away from the blaze as a lookout. He and the widow of crew leader Eric March will act as consultants for the production.
The movie, written by Ken Nolan and Eric Warren, has undergone a name change. Originally, it was called “No Exit.”
The script is based on a GQ article about the tragedy.
Nolan is best known as the screenwriter of 2001’s war movie, “Black Hawk Down.” He also is credited with the screenplay for “Transformers: The Last Knight,” which has already begun shooting, including around the Phoenix area this week.
That movie, fifth in the series, also was scheduled to hit theaters in 2017.
