The Kaiser Steel plant, now known as California Steel, in Fontana doubled as a German factory in "Mission Impossible III." The Morongo Casino in Cabazon will be made to look like a Las Vegas casino in the upcoming movie "Next" starring Nicholas Cage.
More than 100 movies and television shows have been filmed in San Bernardino and Riverside counties, including various cities and the San Bernardino National Forest.
"It's probably one of the best-kept secrets," said Dan Taylor, production coordinator of the Inland Empire Film Commission.
Every time a shoot is held in the region, the actors and crew members stay at local hotels, eat at local restaurants and shop at local stores.
"Once done shooting, they become tourists," Taylor said.
All that spending adds up.
For example, "Fear Factor" was shot twice in the region -- at the San Bernardino International Airport and on the 210 Freeway. Both locations provided the space needed for stunts.
Each time the reality show was shot here, about $200,000 was spent on hotels, restaurants, local
hires, equipment and vendors, said John Grant, a freelance location manager for television shows and commercials."We stayed locally at the Hilton on Hospitality Lane," said Grant, a University of Redlands alum who won a California on Location Award in 2005 for his work on the show "24."
The Motion Picture Association of America reported that the economic impact to the Inland Empire was $131 million in 2003, the latest year figures were released.
However, that's a drop from 2002 when the Inland Empire reaped $250 million.
The area has drawn productions because of its scenery, space, freeways, proximity and friendliness, according to location scouts.
After finding places in Germany to shoot "Mission Impossible III," the director had to be sold on shooting the movie locally, said Becky Brake, the supervising location manager.
"We scouted far and wide in the state of California," she said.
Her location team was recognized this month for shooting the film in state.
Brake scouted Kaiser Steel before for the movie "Primary Colors" but ended up not shooting there. She remembered the location for "Mission Impossible III" because it has a look that is not easy to replicate, she said.
"It was very cinematic. It's got that old grit," Brake said.
The movie also featured the windmills in north Palm Springs.
"That was a big coup because we had to do a major stunt -- fairly major in that it was a helicopter chase sequence," she said.
Finding the right location starts when location scouts call the film commission to be directed to places that have a certain look, like a mountainous region, 10 miles of paved road or a cemetery with headstones.
It's the diversity of locations in the Inland Empire's that makes it attractive, Taylor said.
"It's one of the very few, if not only, places in the U.S. where you can film in mountains in morning and that afternoon be in the desert and do a desert shoot," he said.
The San Bernardino and San Gabriel mountains can be ideal for a movie set in California or even on the East Coast.
The region's proximity to Los Angeles allows crews and actors to drive to the set, saving money on airfare.
"They don't have to fly anywhere to get to it," Taylor said.
Being located within an hour of Los Angeles allows crew and actors to stay close to home, which is what Nicholas Cage wanted since he recently had a baby, said Liz Matthews, who was named location professional of the year for the film "Next."
The movie is set in Flagstaff, Ariz., but was filmed at the Cliffhanger Restaurant in Crestline as well as Running Springs, Big Bear and the Morongo Casino.
Six weeks before shooting, about 30 construction workers stayed at local hotels while transforming the restaurant into a motel.
When the movie was filmed for three weeks out of a 12-week shooting schedule, about 180 crew members stayed in Big Bear, she said.
"It was great. When we were filming there, it was foggy and raining and it was really horrific one night here when we were doing night shots and they had lights set up and the place looked great," Matthews said.
"This young couple pulled up - they weren't from the area and they had been driving through the fog and they said, `Excuse me, do you know if there are any rooms available?' I had to say `I'm sorry it's not real.' "
In addition to the mountain communities, another popular filming location is the San Bernardino International Airport, formerly the Norton Air Force Base.
The airport still has military elements intact, including tarmacs and runways, said Shari Davis, director of the Inland Empire Film Commission.
"They haven't totally gotten away from all the buildings that still represent the military. They have huge hangers - that's always appealing," she said.
Busy airport scenes in movies such as "Blow" are often shot at Ontario International Airport since it has a closed terminal ideal for filming without the hassle of renting space from airlines or car rental companies, Taylor said.
Another bargaining chip the Inland Empire has is the construction of the 210 Freeway from Fontana to San Bernardino.
"In dealing with Highway 210, it's the only game in town," Grant said.
"In Southern California, it's the only section of interstate highway that is unopened to the public and completed in terms of concrete, rails, lines, stripes and dots."
It was the site where "Transformers" was shot about two months ago.
"We did a lot of car crashes and stunts on that stretch, including a bus traveling 70 mph, which was made to explode," said Scott Trimble, key assistant location manager.
"When it did, the two halves of the bus kept continuing tumbling down the freeway, crashing into other cars," he said.
"There's a very limited number of freeways we can actually do stuff like that on. And fortunately for the Inland Empire, they happen to have one of them. So that's what drew us out there."
In addition, the Inland Empire can provide ancillary locations in addition to primary ones, Grant said.
"They're not burned out on film, which is a problem that we do have in Los Angeles," he said.
Overshot locations have a tendency to not be very accommodating anymore, he said.
Some burned-out locations include Hancock Park, downtown Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Venice Beach and Pasadena, Grant said.
"There are 87 municipalities in the general Southern California area. There's about 10 of them I won't even scout in unless I'm directed to for various reasons, primarily burnout and also permit complexities," Grant said.
The Inland Empire Film Commission is known in the industry to be film-friendly and offers assistance in securing the proper permits to film at locations and getting roads closed.
"I think we're one of the first calls because this is an industry of relationships," Davis said.
The film commission's motto is "If you're working, we're working." And Davis has made herself available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
To further promote the 27,000 square miles in the Inland Empire, the film commission is planning to produce a video and market more intensely to the East Coast.
Location managers are encouraged and recognized every year for keeping productions in the state.
However, filming continues to leave California with the lure of financial incentives, such as tax rebates in other states and Canada.
"We have definitely been hit with a decline in feature films because of the financial incentives to go out of state," said Amy Lemisch, director of the California Film Commission director.
But the state does have the most trained professionals in front of and behind the camera, she said.
"People would prefer to shoot here if they can, but sometimes their budgets - they've got to go where they can reduce their bottom line," Lemisch said.
Leonor Vivanco can be reached via e-mail at leonorvivanco@dailybulletin.com or at (909) 386-3875.
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