Boston bombings: Manhunt halts filming on David O. Russell movie

As life is halted for Boston-area residents in light of the manhunt for Dzhokar Tsarnaev, production on a much-anticipated film has been temporarily suspended too.

David O. Russell’s newly titled “American Hustle” was scheduled to shoot Friday in Boston. But reps for studio Sony and Russell said that the film’s shoot was canceled Friday, as the production abided Gov. Deval Patrick’s order that everyone stay inside as police continued the search for a suspected Boston Marathon bomber.

FULL COVERAGE: Boston Marathon attack

It was to have been the 24th day in a planned 42-day shoot for “American Hustle” that is scheduled to stretch into mid-May, which means there are many more Boston production days left. A production spokeswoman told the Los Angeles Times that all cast and crew members were safe after a night of chases and controlled explosions in the streets of Watertown, Mass.

Russell’s new picture, financed by Megan Ellison and reuniting “Silver Linings Playbook” stars Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence, dramatizes the so-called Abscam scandal of the 1970s. It tells a story of a con man (Cooper) who goes undercover to suss out other extra-legal operators.

Though much of the film’s action takes place in the New York-New Jersey region, Boston was chosen for budgetary and logistical reasons, a move that makes the latest turn a somewhat cruel twist of fate for the production.

Earlier in the week, the production was not affected by the Boston Marathon bombings, as the movie was shooting in Worcester, Mass., that day, a Russell spokeswoman said Monday.

The movie is set for a Dec. 25 release.

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