Behind-the-scenes Badgers
“Ben-Hur”: In the sprawling remake, Oscar winner (“12 Years a Slave”) and Mequon native John Ridley shares screenplay credit (and earned an executive-producer credit) for retooling Keith R. Clarke’s script, adapted from the original book. Also, Kenosha native Jim Rygiel, who won three Oscars for visual effects for the “Lord of the Rings” movies, was visual effects supervisor on the movie.
“Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates”: Jake Szymanski, a Milwaukee native and the first director hired by comedy website Funny or Die, made his big-screen directorial debut with this based-on-a-surreal-but-true-story comedy.
“Pete’s Dragon”: Waukesha native David Lowery, who earned his indie cred with the drama “Ain’t Them Bodies Saints,” directed this Disney remake.
“Inferno”: Screenwriter and Pewaukee native David Koepp reunited with director Ron Howard on the third movie based on Dan Brown’s Robert Langdon books (he also wrote the screenplay for “Angels & Demons”).
“Barbershop: The Next Cut”: Milwaukee filmmaker George Tillman Jr. continued his role as producer of the “Barbershop” series with “Barbershop: The Next Cut,” the first new movie in the series since 2004.
Hey, isn’t that person from around here?
“Collateral Beauty”: In the holiday season’s big-issues drama, Will Smith is visited by three figures representing abstract concepts, including Time (a.k.a. Raffi), played by Milwaukee singer and actor Jacob Latimore.
“Now You See Me 2”: Mark Ruffalo, who grew up in Kenosha, reprised his role as FBI agent and Four Horsemen handler Dylan Rhodes in the sequel. (Although Ruffalo was noticeably absent from this summer’s Marvel team-up movie “Captain America: Civil War,” he did sneak in a cameo as Bruce Banner in the comic short “Team Thor,” a teaser of sorts to next year’s “Thor: Ragnarok.”)
“13 Hours”: In Michael Bay’s drama about the assault on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, Milwaukee native and “Grimm” star David Giuntoli played one of the guards trying to protect Ambassador Christopher Stevens.
“The Finest Hours”: Born in Milwaukee but moving to the Chicago area when she was 4, Rachel Brosnahan co-stars in this story of Coast Guard heroism.
Wisconsin accents
“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows”: Yes, that’s award-winning actor Tony Shal- houb providing the voice of Splinter, the sensei-styled rat who mentors the heroes on the half-shell (he also had the role in the franchise’s 2014 reboot).
“Norm of the North”: Heather Graham, a onetime Milwaukee-area resident, is the voice of a woman who works for an evil developer out to build condos in the Arctic.