movie stars in the desert

universal studios is filming a movie near my house the past few months.  well, okay, they've been building the set (which i originally thought was some serious low-rent housing) since april, and started filming in june.

my house is the pushpin on the bottom, the movie set is the one just above pecos road -- about 1.5 or so miles away

what's been interesting about this whole process is a few things.  first, queen creek isn't exactly the mecca that attracts stardom.  we've been trying to figure out *where* they stars (which namely are jennifer garner and jamie foxx) are staying when they are here -- surely they aren't at the la quinta (which is the closest hotel to the set).  i've noticed a very interesting helicopter parked at a new helipad on a new hospital just nearby -- i suspect they are staying in scottsdale and flying over each day.  i offered to host jennifer garner (as long as affleck didn't come along) at my house...we have an extra room and baby toys...but her agent didn't call me back.

anyhow, the experience has been a bit surreal...watching the set being built and now watching some serious action scenes being filmed.  the movie is called the kingdom and is supposed to be about counter terrorism or something -- i haven't figured it out yet.  they are also using the gilbert, az jail as a set for their prison scenes (the gilbert jail got paid $12K for the use).

here's some shots from the set (from my phone sorry):

they really built a little city/apartment complex complete with school, soccer fields, etc. - as well as what looks like a foreign version of it with satellite dishes all over it, etc. -- rumor has it the whole set will be blown up, which should be cool.

the only thing that sucks is now that they are filming more, traffic sucks arse.  they close roads often (and there aren't that many main ones out here).  apparently i missed the garner/foxx duet at the local italian restaurant the other night -- argh.