If you thought you spotted Josh Duhamel or Jensen Ackles in New Westminster this week, you were probably right.
The two stars were in town shooting Duhamel's Buddy Games 2, a sequel to the 2019 film, according to @YVRShoots on Twitter. The popular Twitter account, which follows filming activity around Metro Vancouver and the Lower Mainland, shared a series of tweets from @CaptCanuck66 showing filming action near and around Holy Trinity Cathedral in downtown New West.
According to IMDB, Buddy Games was about a group of friends who reunite to play The Buddy Games, "a wild assortment of absurd physical and mental challenges." Buddy Games 2 sees them return: "After the death of one of their own, Bobfather and the boys steal the urn and go on a trip to commemorate his life at the place where the Buddy Games began, but everything goes wrong when they find themselves in the middle of spring break."
Besides Duhamel (as Bobfather) and Ackles (well known to New Westminster fans as one of the stars of the long-running horror fantasy show Supernatural, which frequently filmed locally), IMDB reports that top-billed cast members also include Ginnifer Godwin, James Roday Rodriguez and Kevin Dillon.
Duhamel is also the director and producer.
Creative BC reports the production's filming dates as July 8 to Aug. 5.
Trevor Cave, the City of New Westminster's filming coordinator, confirmed there was a feature film shoot in town this week and that filming was happening at Holy Trinity Cathedral, near Fourth and Carnarvon streets. He was unable to provide details since he's not allowed to reveal any information about in-progress shoots, but he did note there was further information available on Twitter.
The Record contacted Cave after an unrelated police incident nearby — a Wednesday evening standoff at an apartment building in the 300-block of Agnes Street — got some residents wondering whether the heavy police presence was, in fact, real or whether it, too, was part of the film shoot.
As it turned out, the standoff was a real-life police incident, and the two stories were unconnected.
Follow Julie MacLellan on Twitter @juliemaclellan.
Email Julie, jmaclellan@newwestrecord.ca
