SHOOTING STARS: ‘Somewhere’ in Vegas, ‘Wheel’ spins at Venetian

  Moviedom’s Coppola family has quite a history in Las Vegas, from patriarch Francis Ford Coppola’s Oscar-winning “The Godfather: Part II” to nephew Nicolas Cage’s Oscar-winning “Leaving Las Vegas.”
  This week, Oscar-winning “Lost in Translation” writer-director Sofia Coppola (Francis’ daughter, Nic’s cousin) joins the family’s list of Vegas veterans with her latest, “Somewhere.”
  Set primarily at Hollywood’s legendary Chateau Marmont hotel, “Somewhere” focuses on a hard-living, bad-boy actor (played by Stephen Dorff) who rethinks his life when his 11-year-old daughter (Elle Fanning) comes to visit.
  An extras call for scenes expected to shoot today at Planet Hollywood called for a croupier, craps dealer, pit boss and casino waitress; other expected sequences include driving shots on the Strip in the wee small hours Tuesday morning.
  Spinning the "Wheel": The “Wheel of Fortune” slot machines spin at casinos round the clock, but the syndicated game show that inspired it returns to Las Vegas this week to shoot four weeks of shows — in four days of production.
  On Friday and Saturday, the “Wheel” crew will tape the first two weeks of “Wheel’s” new season in The Venetian’s adjacent Sands Expo Center, notes executive producer Harry Friedman.
  “We’ve never done a season premiere on the road,” he notes.
  And next week, July 20 and 21, two additional weeks of “Wheel” (including a special “Sweethearts Week”) will tape — but won’t air until February.
  The Las Vegas shows feature a custom-designed set “no one’s ever seen,” Friedman says of the Sands Expo setup, which will appear on TV as though “the wheel and the puzzle board have been plunked down in the middle of the casino.”
  Because that set will be installed “in a big empty space,” he adds, “we’re bringing everything with us — sets, lighting, audio.”
  Even though the Las Vegas setup calls for 2,000 seats (compared to the show’s usual studio audience of 180), all the tickets for the Las Vegas shows have been distributed.
  Those audiences will have plenty of locals to root for, Friedman says, because “the majority of the contestants will be from Vegas.” (Watch for more “Wheel” dealings in next week’s Shooting Stars ... )
  Game on: Speaking of games, Las Vegas serves as a backdrop for “World Hustlers,” an upcoming Japanese pachinko game, filming through the end of the month at a variety of Southern Nevada locations, reports director Jeff Lester.
  Among this week’s locations: the Strip’s Trump International Hotel.
  Las Vegas serves as one of four locations — Monaco, Macau and a luxury ship are the others — for the “film-style” game.
  “They sometimes have licensed James Bond and ‘Jurassic Park’ ” footage for game backdrops, Lester notes, but this time, pachinko producers decided to “go ahead and write a script” featuring 18 different characters.
  One of them is played by Japanese star Manabu Oshio; Las Vegas-based actor Rusty Meyers plays another. About two dozen other actors also appear in the project, Meyers notes.
  Poker "Ace": NBC recently completed the first round of production on “Face the Ace,” a new poker show — hosted by former “Sopranos” regular (and former Riviera entertainment director) Steve Schirripa — in which contestants challenge legendary poker aces to no-limit Texas hold ’em.
  The show, which debuts Aug. 1, features such a large set that the games were played at Cin City Studios — requiring special dispensation from the state gaming commission, which monitored the production.
  “Face the Ace” is expected back in town next month to tape additional episodes; stay tuned for details.
  Quick hits: The upcoming feature comedy “Get Him to the Greek,” which visited Las Vegas in May,  is scheduled to return for reshoots and background shots on the Strip and Boulder Highway and at Red Rock Canyon today and Tuesday.
  The fifth go-round for the British reality TV series “Celebrity Adrenaline Junkie,” meanwhile, has a Clark County film permit to shoot “adventure, actuality and general view” footage Tuesday through Saturday.
  Hosted by Jack Osbourne of “The Osbournes,” the show’s first two episodes reportedly feature Jack’s parents: pop Ozzy and mom Sharon, who recently spent time in Las Vegas judging “America’s Got Talent” hopefuls.
  Also on this week’s location calendar: a Target TV commercial.
  And VH1 cameras were following future “Peepshow” regular Aubrey O’Day around town last week for a reality pilot.
  Casting magic: Locally based magician Will Roya follows his “Trick R 4 Kids” magic DVDs with two additional kid-friendly videos: one on balloon twisting, the other on how to float things. Roya needs six kids (and possibly some of their family members), along with two female swimsuit models, to feature in the videos, which are scheduled to shoot next week. If you’re interested, e-mail will@willroya.com for information on Friday’s auditions.