Yeah, it's a lazy title. However, it's also a succinct description for Zach Braff's new film being shot this week in downtown Madison.

The film is The Last Kiss, a feature shot mostly in Montreal but set in Madison that is slated for a spring 2006 release. Scenes were shot on Bascom Hill and the 100 block of State Street yesterday, with more planned for today. Melanie Conklin at the State Journal covered yesterday's action in front of Bascom Hall, speaking with the film's producer and executive producer, and describing the actors, stand-ins, extras and the story's Madison setting.

Another scene was shot yesterday evening at the top of State Street, featuring Braff, co-stars, crew, extras, and a fair number of onlookers. The scene was complete with fake parking meters and parked cars on the north side of State, while the one and two hundred blocks of North Carroll were filled with equipment and trailers. Appearing below the fold is more coverage of the rare Hollywood foray into Madison, as well as a photo gallery of the scene.

The production company behind The Last Kiss is Lakeshore Entertainment, with executive producer Andre Lamal and producer Tom Rosenberg both 1960s vintage UW-Madison grads. Director Tony Goldwyn is a long-time actor who is best known for his role as the killer in Ghost (recently portraying a Skonnie gangster in The Godfather of Green Bay), and is moving into the director's chair. The screenwriter is Paul Haggis; he also penned last year's best picture winner Million Dollar Baby, and was the writer/director of this year's acclaimed Crash.

The Last Kiss cast includes Blythe Danner, Harold Ramis, Rachel Bilson, and Jacinda Barrett, though the star is Zach Braff. Besides his work on the NBC sitcom Scrubs, Braff is best known as the mind behind Garden State. The Last Kiss is a remake of the 2001 Italian film L 'ultimo Bacio, and is about people in their twenties who are uncertain of their place in life (pop-branded "twixters"). Given this, it is in many ways a thematic follow-up for Braff to his similarly-styled New Jersey story.

Braff, who wrote a high profile promotional blog for last year's Garden State, is posting there intermittently about the production of The Last Kiss. For example, a late May post discussed cast and crew boredom while shooting in Montreal.

Given the novelty of a major feature film getting shot in Madison, and the kind of attention and promotion that a major movie can bring to a smaller city, it has generated a fair amount of interest and attention in local media and blogs.

A NBC15 report on Monday evening noted the arrival of The Last Kiss, focusing on efforts by the owner of The House of Wisconsin Cheese to get his storefront used as a backdrop. The "news" piece on the city's NBC affiliate was based off a press release sent by the owner to local media, which is posted on TDPF. The press release was about efforts by the merchant to promote his tourist-oriented shop to the film's cast and crew, including decking out the staff in hospital scrubs (get it?) and temporarily renaming their "signature Ham and Swiss sandwich" after Braff.

Yesterday, Ann "Queen of Blogs" Althouse noted the NBC15 piece about the shoot, and quipped, "Madison's a good choice for a place to be 30 and struggling with adulthood." In an update, she also noted the Conklin piece about the Bascom Hill shoot, and reminisced about watching Rodney Dangerfield in a similar shoot two decades ago for Back to School.

Elsewhere in the local ether, there was chatter on TDPF about sighting Braff and co-star Bilson at the Momo on Monday night. RPM wrote about watching the L'ultimo Bacio, remembering that "it starred a lot of pretty people having simultaneous crises." Lucile at The Black Hole of Amazingness wrote on Monday about her casting as an extra, and approved of her first day's experience yesterday. She also mentioned that today's shooting is again on Bascom Hill and at the Memorial Union Terrace. A Madison Metro detour notice (map) for today might also suggest a MLK Jr. Blvd location, unless that is related to the first Concerts on the Square tonight.

Further coverage of The Last Kiss is available from a State Journal article from last Thursday about the extras casting, a June 15 column from Conklin (complete with a couple sloppy kisses for Madison's own media-beloved Zach), and a May 28 column in the Cap Times by Doug Moe.


The Last Kiss production photos from June 28, 2005.