All right: Cameras! Action! (From the CJ):

The $70 million redevelopment project set to transform the long vacant Louisville Gardens building downtown into the Louisville Studios at the Gardens, a state-of-the-art sound stage for entertainment production, is one of many signs that Louisville plans to play a starring role in the state’s growing movie and television industry.

“It is very rare that a city has the opportunity to be part of building a whole new industry in their community,” said Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg. “The film and production industry is not a new industry, but it’s relatively new in a big way to our city and our state.”

For decades, Louisville has popped up in the credits of feature films in everything from the Bill Murray comedy “Stripes” (1981), to Oscar-nominated film “The Insider” (1999) starring Al Pacino, Cameron Crowe and Christopher Plummer, and Disney’s “Secretariat” (2010). …

Actor and director Ethan Hawke was in town shooting his film “Wildcat” in 2023 and actors Ryan Phillippe and Bella Thorne star in “Saint Clare,” which was also filmed in Louisville.

We have firsthand experience with movie making in Louisville. The dinner scene at the top of this post was filmed in our dining room as part of Hawke’s “Wildcat.” (That’s Maya Hawke in the middle of the group shot at our table in front of our lamps and curtains.)

Coincidentally, I just happened to walk by Louisville Gardens Sunday morning and thought they should do something with the building. The last time I was in it was back in the 1980s, for a Cyndi Lauper concert. I remember people rushing the stage and Cyndi stopping the show to tell everyone to calm down and be safe.

(OK, movie fans. The headline was inspired by “Sunset Boulevard,” not shot in Louisville. Hopefully, we won’t be as deranged.)