When someone famous is looking for a bite to eat or somewhere to check out in Winnipeg, Kenny Boyce is frequently the guy to ask.<\/p>\n
Boyce has led the city\u2019s film and special events team for nearly 30 years, so he usually has a tailor-made answer at the ready.<\/p>\n
He\u2019ll consider a variety of factors, including the neighbourhood they\u2019re in, the time of year and weather, their tastes and dietary restrictions, if any.<\/p>\n
Boyce likes the classic spots \u2014 Rae and Jerry\u2019s, India Palace, among others \u2014 but he\u2019ll sometimes surprise guests with a spot a little more off the beaten path, like Luda\u2019s Deli or Baraka Pita Bakery.<\/p>\n
\u201cI grew up in the North End, so if I can ever take them back into my neighbourhood, I will,\u201d he says with a laugh.<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t MIKE DEAL \/ FREE PRESS<\/p>\n Kenny Boyce, manager of Winnipeg\u2019s film and special events, says it\u2019s still a thrill to provide personalized recommendations to big stars. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n Lately, it feels like Winnipeg has been teeming with film sets and the actors that come with them.<\/p>\n Some have embraced the city with open arms: most recently, American actor Blake Anderson, 41, extolled the fatboy-style burger<\/a>, a local staple, and called VJ\u2019s Drive Inn\u2019s version \u201cone of the top five burgers\u201d he\u2019d ever had in his life on a podcast he co-hosts with his Workaholics co-stars.<\/p>\n During a podcast with Seth Myers last summer, Bob Odenkirk, 63, who was in the city filming action flicks Nobody 2 and Normal in 2024, called Winnipeg \u201can amazing, interesting place,\u201d recommending a walk through \u201cbeautiful\u201d Wolseley and the Exchange District. The Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul actor took in a Jets game, threw out the first pitch at a Goldeyes game<\/a> and, generally, made himself at home.<\/p>\n It\u2019s hard for Boyce to pick his favourites among the celebrities he\u2019s met and hung out with over the years, but he fondly remembers a late-night meal with Kiefer Sutherland in the late 1990s, a visit from Malcolm McDowell that\u2019s turned into a years-long friendship, and taking the Kids in the Hall to a downtown nightclub.<\/p>\n \u201cIt feels good. It instils civic pride.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s not all restaurants and nightlife, either: Boyce says he\u2019s been asked for all kinds of recommendations, including where Ed Sheeran could buy a guitar and where Eric Clapton could rent a bicycle.<\/p>\n Manitoba might be a popular place to shoot films and TV series because of its generous tax credits, but making famous people who are working here temporarily feel welcome and comfortable is gratifying, Boyce says.<\/p>\n \u201cIt feels good. It instils civic pride,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re talking about my town, what a great experience you\u2019re having, and it\u2019s something that I already know, right? It warms my heart.\u201d<\/p>\n A few local businesses \u2014 and an entire rural town \u2014 have made lasting impressions.<\/p>\n A peek into the kitchen at Deer + Almond reveals a wall that, at first glance, appears to be filled with indiscriminate scribbles.<\/p>\n Owner and chef Mandel Hitzer points out the scrawls are meaningful; autographs, accolades and gratitude from a lengthy list of famous diners who\u2019ve enjoyed their visits to the popular restaurant.<\/p>\n A favourite, but faded one is from Samuel L. Jackson, thanking the restaurant for its \u201cdope-ass dishes.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t MIKE DEAL \/ FREE PRESS<\/p>\n Chef and owner Mandel Hitzer, showing off the celebrity wall in his restaurant Deer + Almond, which contains at least one signed endorsement he\u2019s considering keeping for himself.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u201cOne day, when my time has come and I move on from the space, I might try to cut out a piece of it, frame it and take it with me, or something,\u201d Hitzer says.<\/p>\n The Exchange District spot has become a go-to for visiting actors, musicians, artists and other chefs over its 14 years. Hitzer rattles off a list of past patrons: actors Elijah Wood, Jennifer Tilly, Woody Harrelson and Sean Penn; musicians Sheeran and LCD Soundsystem\u2019s James Murphy, and the Barenaked Ladies.<\/p>\n Henry Winkler of Happy Days fame, and more recently, Barry, called the restaurant \u201cout of this world delish\u201d<\/a> on social media after ordering lobster, scallops and schnitzel in November 2024. He, too, was in town shooting Normal and, on more than one occasion, tweeted about enjoying the city, including the Winnipeg Art Gallery.<\/p>\n Hitzer has a method, recommended by a staff member, for breaking the ice with a recognizable diner: he\u2019ll tell them they look familiar, and then ask if they went to high school together.<\/p>\n It worked, most recently, on Stranger Things star Natalia Dyer. But it\u2019s rare for other people in the restaurant to get worked up over a famous visitor, he says, because Winnipeggers are, typically, low-key and polite, waiting until their prey has finished the meal to ask for a photo or a signature.<\/p>\n Winnipeg Beach is on its way to a much-needed revitalization. Just ask the mayor.<\/p>\n In the past, the Lake Winnipeg cottage town slowed down after the Labour Day weekend, when a big chunk of the summer population heads back to school and work. But lately? Not so much.<\/p>\n The last few years have instead been abuzz with campers, food trucks, set dressings and props. After Nobody 2 wrapped production in summer 2024<\/a>, Normal began shooting in the fall. People working on the upcoming film Sticks and Stones were in the area last month, checking out the local curling rink.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t MIKAELA MACKENZIE \/ FREE PRESS FILES<\/p>\n Bob Odenkirk on the Nobody 2 film set at Winnipeg Beach back in August 2024.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re having a bit of a boom right now, which is a good thing,\u201d Mayor Stan Potten says.<\/p>\n Potten, who has been mayor for less than a year, says he didn\u2019t expect encounters with Hollywood location scouts would be part of the job.<\/p>\n \u201cSome of them, they just come and drive around, then they come to the town office and say, \u2018Hey, would you be interested?\u2019\u201d he says.<\/p>\n The Hollywood-heads-to-the-lake novelty has sparked what Potten describes as a uniquely new interest in the town. Visitors drove in from Winnipeg and beyond to sneak a peek at Odenkirk and the filmmaking process from the boardwalk.<\/p>\n While the action hasn\u2019t been limited to Winnipeg Beach \u2014 a massive movie studio opened in Niverville last year<\/a> \u2014 Potten says he hopes his town and other rural communities become destination spots for studios looking for places to film.<\/p>\n Potten says getting tourists to come back and attracting businesses to set up shop permanently is a priority for him. It\u2019s hard to say if movie magic will help, he says, but it can\u2019t hurt, either.<\/p>\n \u201cThe more attention you can get, the better it is,\u201d he says, sounding like a politician\u2026 or a celebrity. \u201cThere\u2019s never any bad publicity, as long as they\u2019re mentioning your name.\u201d<\/p>\n Jon Hamm seemed to be everywhere in town<\/a> in November and December.<\/p>\n While filming upcoming true-crime series American Hostage, the 54-year-old Mad Men star and other cast members were photographed at 529 Wellington, a Jets game, the 2025 Grey Cup and \u2014 road trip! \u2014 a family-owned movie theatre just outside the city<\/a>.<\/p>\n A month after Hamm, with actors Paul Walter Hauser and Johnny Pembleton, caught The Running Man at Flicks Cinema in Stonewall, co-owner Griffin Levenec said he\u2019s still taking questions about meeting the trio.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been cool because a lot of people are coming in and asking about it,\u201d he says. \u201cI don\u2019t mind telling the story.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t RYLEY BUCHALTER PHOTO<\/p>\n Flicks Cinema co-owner Griffin Levenec (second from left) says word of the visit by actors Paul Walter Hauser (from left), Jon Hamm and Johnny Pembleton has boosted business.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Levenec, who operates the theatre with his family, said the visit created a new market for Flicks; some Winnipeggers have decided it\u2019s worth the trip to screen a movie in Stonewall.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were trying to find our moment, like, how are we breaking into the city?\u201d he said. \u201cBecause around town here, pretty much everyone here knows we\u2019re back\u2026 our main goal is trying to get people from outside of the immediate area, and it\u2019s definitely helped with that.\u201d<\/p>\n Back in Winnipeg, Hamm riffed with a server and cook at Vera Pizza after stopping by for a meal in November: when they asked for a photo, Hamm jokingly asked the pair \u2014 both mustachioed men with similar looks \u2014 if they were brothers.<\/p>\n Owner Terik Cabildo says there weren\u2019t many famous faces in the south Osborne Street restaurant during the decade after it opened in 2014. But in the last year, there have been celebrities aplenty, he says.<\/p>\n Vera hosted a private dinner for the cast of American Hostage, including Hamm, Giovanni Ribisi and director Adam Arkin in November and, in September, actors Joe Pantoliano and Jared Harris visited while filming Violent Night 2.<\/p>\n Cabildo isn\u2019t sure how his eatery got on the A-list.<\/p>\n \u201cI think all it takes is one person that likes your restaurant and then recommending it to whoever\u2019s in production,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n The visits have been especially exciting for staff and regular customers, he says, describing the feeling as a \u201cWinnipeg-ism\u201d \u2014 the underdog quality that compels Winnipeggers to prove how great the city is to visitors.<\/p>\n \u201cWhich is funny, because, on a side note, I think we don\u2019t need to do that,\u201d Cabildo says.<\/p>\n \u201cBut I think we have that in us of wanting to show outsiders it\u2019s great here. I hope you like it just as much as we do.\u201d<\/p>\n malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca<\/p>\n Malak Abas<\/strong> Malak Abas is a city reporter at the Free Press. Born and raised in Winnipeg\u2019s North End, she led the campus paper at the University of Manitoba before joining the Free Press in 2020. Read more about Malak<\/a>.<\/p>\n Every piece of reporting Malak produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print \u2014 part of the Free Press\u2018s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press\u2019s history and mandate<\/a>, and learn how our newsroom operates<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n
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