Gerard Butler's CopShop movie halts production after three crew members test positive for coronavirus. The upcoming action thriller film stars Butler as a professional hitman who goes to war with a con artist (Frank Grillo) at a small-town police station. The film also centers around a rookie female cop, for which casting is reportedly still in progress. Written and directed by Joe Carnahan (The A-Team, The Grey), CopShop was set to start filming this month in Georgia and New Mexico.
According to Deadline, production on CopShop has been suspended after three crew members tested positive for coronavirus. Filming had just begun in Georgia before production was brought to a halt. Producer Warren Gotz told Deadline:
We learned this morning that three crew members have tested positive for Covid -19. We immediately paused production proactively. The safety of our cast and crew is our greatest priority. We are contact tracing everyone in the production at this time. Those who tested positive were isolated from the vast majority of our crew, including our actors and director. An extensive set of protocols were implemented for this production from the beginning and we remain dedicated to ensuring they are followed. If test results are negative, we will resume production according to our established safety guidelines.
CopShop is among a few films that have had reported COVID-19 cases on set. Filming for The Batman was put on hold again last month after Robert Pattinson tested positive. Before that, four crew members from Jurassic World: Dominion were infected, causing drastic shooting schedule changes. Most recently, three crew members on the set of Scream 5 tested positive, but production continued filming.
CopShop is the first collaboration between action stars Butler and Grillo, though Grillo and Carnahan have previously worked together on The Grey and the upcoming sci-fi film Boss Level. Kurt McLeod penned the screenplay based on a story he created with Mark Williams. Williams and Tai Duncan of Zero Gravity Management are producing alongside Eric Gold and Warren Goz of Sculptor Media, Butler and Alan Siegel’s G-Base Productions, and Carnahan and Grillo through their WarParty Films production company. While it's unclear as of right now how long production will be delayed, a shutdown after three positive coronavirus tests is the right move to ensure the health and safety of everyone involved in the shoot.
Source: Deadline