SHOOTING STARS: ‘Prison Break’ breaks free at Planet Hollywood

  Where else but Vegas, baby?
  That’s a rhetorical question for the Fox drama “Prison Break,” which is scheduled to wrap a two-day shoot today at Planet Hollywood.
  The lucky seventh episode of the show’s fourth season features cast members Dominic Purcell (as ex-death row inmate Lincoln Burrows), Amaury Nolasco (whose Fernando Sucre character previously visited Vegas in the show’s second season) and Sarah Wayne Callies (alias Dr. Sara  Tancredi, who — surprise! — wasn’t really decapitated last season).
  This season “finds our guys in another conspiracy-related adventure all over the L.A. area,” explains writer and co-executive producer Nick Santora. But “this particular episode actually brings the group to Las Vegas.”
  Some L.A.-based shows (and “C.S.I.: Crime Scene Investigation,” we’re talking to you) pretend to take place in Las Vegas but seldom leave Southern California to capture genuine Glitter City scenes.
  “Prison Break” considered that too, Santora acknowledges.
  “You can always try to fake it,” he points out, “but Vegas is Vegas.” And with Planet Hollywood rolling out the red carpet, “we knew we couldn’t pass it up,” Santora says.
  Besides, “our characters aren’t too upset” about hitting the Strip, he notes — especially “after a stint in a Midwestern penitentiary and a Panamanian lockup.”
  Look for "Prison Break's" hourlong Vegas episode in early October.
  “Running” for office: Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman’s movie and TV credits extend from “Casino” and the aforementioned “CSI” to the biographical 1998 documentary “Mob Law.”
  Now, word comes that Goodman has accepted an invitation to appear in “Running 4 President,” which locally based writer-director Marko Sakren is shooting throughout August.
  The comedic tale focuses on a failed oxygen bar transformed into the headquarters for a make-believe campaign that catches fire; this week’s locations include the Henderson International School, where more than a hundred extras, representing everyone from Wall Streeters to hippie radicals to rowdy teens, will share the scene.
  Waiting for “Thor”: Thunder From Down Under may be a Strip fixture, but Las Vegas seems a highly unlikely place to encounter Thor, the Norse god of thunder. Except, of course, in “Thor at the Bus Stop,” a feature currently shooting weekends through September at locations ranging from residences to offices.
  The “mythical comedy” finds Thor (played by Jerry Thompson, who’s directing the movie with his brother Mike) on a life-changing journey where he meets regular, nongodlike folks, explains May May Luong, who’s producing the movie with David Schmoeller, who teaches film at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. (The Thompsons and Luong are all UNLV film grads.)
  Despite the UNLV connection and Las Vegas locations, “Las Vegas is doubling as everywhere,” Luong points out. “Right now, there’s no mention of Las Vegas.”
  Reality check: The British TV documentary “What the Housemaids Did Next” is expected to follow two reality stars as they hit the Strip and other Las Vegas locales this week. The show comes from Endemol UK, one of Britain’s largest independent TV producers, which cranks out more than 6,000 hours of programming, including the Jolly Olde versions of such familiar shows as “Deal or No Deal” and “Big Brother.”