ST. LOUIS — Lights. Camera. Action. Hollywood is back in Missouri and it's starring St. Louis.
"We're on day five of 'On Fire', the movie about John O'Leary who went to SLU," J. Todd Harris, one of the film's producers said. "It was the perfect place to shoot this movie. You do want to shoot a movie where it was set if you can. You don't have to fake Busch Stadium. You don't have to fake the Arch. You don't have to fake SLU."
"It's very strange in a way. It's strange to see all the equipment set up. It's strange to see all the people doing their jobs and then students walking by on the side, but it feels like home. It's almost comfortable," Senior at Saint Louis University and extra London Kimble said.
The story about a lifelong St. Louisan almost didn't get to be filmed in St. Louis.
"What really put it over the top was Missouri reinstated its tax credit," Harris said.
"That was just extraordinary, cause that allowed us to shoot the whole movie here," Executive Producer Linda Huntington said. "This is a love story. It's becoming a love story to St. Louis. Everyone is so prideful and it's wonderful."
One of those people is an executive producer with a familiar name, Terry Schnuck. He's a Broadway producer turned movie producer for 'On Fire.'
"We were able to grab terrific guy like William H. Macy to play an iconic St. Louis role of Jack Buck. I wouldn't have imagined that in my wildest dreams," Schnuck said.
It's all probably beyond the wildest dreams of John O'Leary who taped his cameo for the film on his very own college campus.
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