SHOOTING STARS: Lake Mead documentary leads location lineup

It’s been four seasons in the making, but the end is near for the documentary “Life of the Desert: Lake Mead,” which is expected to wrap at the end of the week.

The 15-minute, high-definition documentary will debut next year at the visitors’ center for the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, according to producer Chuck Dunkerly.

And while the documentary concentrates primarily on the recreation area itself, “we’re also taking a look at Las Vegas,” he notes. After all, with “such a big metropolitan area” so close to in-the-wild desert, “that’s a density contrast that’s very hard to ignore.”

Lady of Spain: Another documentary, Spanish TV’s “Mujeres Españolas,” recently visited Las Vegas — because one of its four central characters did too.

Inspired by the Scandinavian TV hit “Swedish Hollywood Wives,” the show follows “four glamorous Spanish women” living in the United States, explains production manager Tamara Sayiner.

One of them, Marietta, joined her husband in Las Vegas, where their stops include the Forum Shops at Caesars.

“We chose Vegas because it symbolizes fun and glamour and has a lot of good energy,” Sayiner comments.

The locally shot footage is expected to air in June on Spain’s Cuatro channel to an expected audience of 2.5 million.

Quick hits: It’s almost summer, and the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority is readying a new national media campaign extolling the virtues of “Camp Vegas.” New spots, which were shot here recently, should start turning up on TV in mid-May.

Cameras roll on, meanwhile, for the locally based reality series “Pawn Stars,” “Criss Angel Mindfreak” and “Holly’s World,” featuring “Peepshow” headliner Holly Madison.

Coming attractions: The Miss Universe pageant checks into town Saturday for two weeks of preliminaries before the big event on May 16. “America’s Got Talent” also is scheduled to visit Vegas in May. (As always, stay tuned to Shooting Stars for details.)

And the runaway success of last summer’s “The Hangover” keeps paying dividends for Las Vegas.

In addition to three upcoming summer movies that filmed scenes here (“Get Him to the Greek,” “The Other Guys” and “Middle Men”), Internet reports note that Jack Nicholson has been offered the lead in another proposed comedy, “Last Vegas.” Described as “Grumpy Old Men”-meets-“The Hangover,” the script reportedly focuses on four estranged childhood friends, now AARP-eligible, who reunite in Neon Nirvana to marry off the group’s lifelong bachelor playboy.

Double creature feature: Regular Shooting Stars readers may recall previous updates on local cult auteur Ted V. Mikels’ most recent made-in-Vegas productions, “Demon Haunt” and “Astro-Zombies M-3: Cloned.”

Now that they’re both finished, Mikels plans to screen both tonight at the Palms during an invitation-only premiere; red-carpet arrivals, open to the public, are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m.