VANCOUVER – Ryan Reynolds’ new movie Deadpool has begun causing some traffic disruptions in Vancouver.
The Georgia Viaduct is shut down to all traffic at different times, likely from April 5 to April 18 for filming.
The Georgia Viaduct leads out of the downtown core, and the City of Vancouver says the closures have been scheduled to minimize impacts to rush hour traffic.
The Viaduct will be closed to traffic from 5 a.m. to 3 p.m. on weekdays, from April 6 to April 16. When filming completes at 3 p.m., one lane will open to allow traffic to pass a 100-metre screened area. All lanes will open once past that area.
PHOTOS: First images of Deadpool filming in Vancouver surface on social media
Reynolds took to Twitter on Easter Monday to thank those affected by the viaduct closure:
On Saturday, April 11, filming will take place from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. The production has also held the option to use the Viaduct on April 12, 17 and 18 for contingency purposes.
“As long as you prepare people for that and they can make alternative travel arrangements, we don’t seem to get a lot of complaints from our member businesses,” says Charles Gauthier of the Vancouver Downtown Business Association.
The Dunsmuir Viaduct will not be impacted by any closures.
Deadpool, which is a X-Men spin-off, will see Reynolds reprise his role as Wade Wilson/Deadpool from 2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine. The movie will also shoot at North Shore Studios.
“After scouting locations in North America and Europe, we selected Vancouver for both budgetary reasons and because of the City’s increasingly positive reputation regarding its support for filming,” says the film’s Executive Producer John Kelly. “The use of the Viaduct is necessary to accommodate a critical scene that requires the appearance of highway overpasses entering a major urban centre. We are very pleased to have this opportunity to work with the City of Vancouver.”
Vancouver’s Mayor Gregor Robertson says the City strongly supports the film and TV industry, and the major economic and community benefits. The production intends on spending more than $37.5 million directly and will hire more than 1,100 people in Vancouver. More than 80 per cent of BC film and television companies are located in Metro Vancouver and 85 per cent of those companies are based in Vancouver and employ more than 18,000 people.
“This collaboration with 20th Century Fox is more exciting news for our growing economy and another important way of showing that Vancouver is open for business for major motion pictures,” says Gregor.
For more information on road closures, visit vancouver.ca/roadwork.
– With files from John R. Kennedy
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