National Treasure - Press Archive - Philadelphia Inquirer

Source: The Philadelphia Inquirer

24 July 2003

Phila. setting for movie by Bruckheimer
Michael Klein

Uber-producer Jerry Bruckheimer - whose Bad Boys II and Pirates of the

Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl are the top two films in theaters

at the moment - has green-lighted a big project to be set in Philadelphia,

his office confirmed yesterday.

National Treasure will star Nicolas Cage as Benjamin Franklin Gates, an

archaeologist-historian who has to steal the Declaration of Independence to

keep someone else from getting to a treasure map on the back. (Cage

starred in Bruckheimer's 1997 smash Con Air.)

As of yesterday, the Buena Vista/Touchstone Pictures joint is set to start

shooting in mid-September. Director is Jon Turteltaub (While You Were

Sleeping), who came up with the idea.

Philly's historic sites will be used for exteriors. It's not clear how long the

film crew will be here. Interiors will be shot on a soundstage somewhere

else.

National Treasure is but one of several projects on the local slate, according

to the Greater Philadelphia Film Office, which lures TV and movies.