Put Elvis star Austin Butler together with Emmy-winning Killing Eve actress Jodie Comer in Cincinnati this fall and you'll get The Bikeriders.
Director Jeff Nichols (Mud, Loving, Midnight Special) will call the shots from his original script inspired by Danny Lyons' 1968 The Bikeriders book, a collection of photographs and interviews about the Chicago Outlaw Motorcycle Club. Production begins here in October, Film Cincinnati announced Monday.
Locations in Price Hill and other parts of Greater Cincinnati were scouted in late July for the feature film "based on a true story of a photojournalist, Danny Lyon, who followed a Chicago motorcycle club in the mid-to-late 1960s and early 1970s and then published a book of his photos and interviews," according to a letter dated Monday July 25 left at homes by a location scout.
Rolling into Cincinnati for The Bikeriders are two of the hottest Hollywood stars.
Butler will film here just months after his breakthrough role of Elvis Presley in Elvis, which has grossed more than $230 million globally. He's currently filming Dune Part 2, and will appear in the Band of Brothers sequel called Master of the Air on Apple next year, according to Deadline. His credits include Once Upon A Time… in Hollywood, Arrow, CSI: NY, CSI: Miami, The Carrie Diaries, Switched at Birth, Wizards of Waverly Place and Hannah Montana.
Comer just received her third Primetime Emmy Award nomination for playing Villanelle on BBC America's Killing Eve. She won the Emmy for outstanding lead actress in a drama in 2019. Comer also has appeared in Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker, The Last Duel, and My Mad Fat Diary.
Also along for the ride will be Tom Hardy, the English actor nominated for a best supporting Academy Award for The Revenant. Since his debut in HBO's Band of Brothers in 2010, Hardy has appeared as the title character in Marvel's Venom: Let There Be Carnage, plus The Dark Knight Rises, Mad Max: Fury Road, Oliver Twist and Inception.
Deadline described The Bikeriders as a look at a 1960s motorcycle club "through the eyes of its members (as) the club evolves over the course of a decade from a gathering place for local outsiders into a more sinister gang, threatening the original group’s unique way of life."
Nichols has been meeting with actors since spring. His "scripts always have drawn big talent, going back to films like Take Shelter and Mud, and it wasn’t long before big names began reaching out to discuss his new project," Deadline reported last week.
"We are thrilled to host this incredibly talented team and provide tremendous opportunities for locals. It’s a very exciting time for Cincinnati's own role in the film industry,” said Kristen Schlotman, Film Cincinnati executive director, in a media release.
The Bikeriders will be the third major motion picture filmed in Greater Cincinnati this year. Oscar- and Emmy-winning actor Regina King completed Shirley, her biographical film about U.S. Rep. Shirley Chisholm's 1972 presidential campaign in April.
A few weeks later, production started on HBO Max's Turtles All The Way Down based on the best-seller from The Fault in Our Stars author John Greene. The Turtles cast included Isabela Merced, Judy Reyes, Cree Cicchino and Felix Mallard.
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