Vegas plays pivotal role in ‘Witch Mountain’

The 1975 Disney favorite "Escape to Witch Mountain" had nothing to do with Las Vegas. But the big-screen update, "Race to Witch Mountain," couldn't possibly do without Neon Nirvana.

After all, if the movie's Las Vegas locations "hadn't worked, we would have had to change the story significantly," acknowledges producer Andrew Gunn.

That's because the production, which begins a 10-day location visit Tuesday, tells its story from the perspective of a hard-luck Las Vegas cabdriver (Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson), who unwittingly picks up teen "runaways" ("Bridge to Terabithia's" AnnaSophia Robb and "The Seeker's" Alexander Ludwig) who turn out to be telepathic, telekinetic extraterrestrials.

"It wasn't until we settled on that story" that Las Vegas took on a pivotal role, says Gunn, citing the comedic potential of a spaceship crash-landing in the Southern Nevada desert.

As director Andy Fickman (who also directed Johnson's hit "The Game Plan") told Gunn, "There's just something great about two kids who have never been to Earth -- and their first vision is Las Vegas."

Although Southern California supplies most of the movie's locations, "there's no way you could ever fake somewhere else for Las Vegas," Gunn says.

And audiences won't just be seeing "the Las Vegas everyone as a tourist sees," he explains.

While this week's shooting sites -- Strip and Planet Hollywood Resort exteriors -- emphasize Las Vegas' "bright and glitzy" elements, next week's locations include grittier downtown sites that "are not so glitzy."

Counting down: Deadline looms for this year's 48 Hour Film Project, which kicks off Friday with more than three dozen teams participating (so far), from AllAround Film to Z Productions. But there's still time to sign up and compete to make the best short in 48 hours.

Friday's kickoff takes place at downtown's Neonopolis, on Jillian's outdoor stage, where teams will draw a specific genre from a hat, along with a character, a prop and a line of dialogue that must be featured in all shorts. Sunday's drop-off also takes place at Jillian's; the movies will screen June 5 (and possibly June 6, depending on the number of entries) at Galaxy Theatres' Neonopolis multiplex.

Click on www.48hourfilm. com/lasvegas/ to register or learn more about the 48 Hour Film Project.

My pie: CiCi's Pizza, with more than 600 restaurants in 30 states, shoots a commercial this week at its 2235 E. Cheyenne Ave. location.

The father-and-son spot features local performers Rusty Meyers (as the dad), Alex Nicholl (as the son) and Keri Hill (as their waitress); it begins running next month.

Carol Cling's Shooting Stars column appears Mondays. Contact her at (702) 383-0272 or e-mail her at ccling@reviewjournal.com.