Behind the scenes at movie remake of Red Dawn - exclusive photos

The remake of the 80's movie Red Dawn has been filming scenes in downtown Detroit for the past couple of weeks, closing off a number of streets and inconveniencing locals. All for the sake of our pitiful state economy. It's a good trade-off.

A couple of days ago I was walking to my bank branch downtown, checking my Blackberry and not paying much attention as to where I was going. Suddenly, a young woman stepped in front of me and said, "I'm sorry, sir, but this is a closed set." I pointed and said, "Yes, but it's an open bank."

We spoke for a couple of minutes, I left and entered the bank from the other side of the building.

The bank interior offered a great view of the set, where rumor had it that they were about to blow up a car. Contrary to popular belief, that is not a common occurrence in Detroit.

A number of the bank employees were gathered by the window looking at a small gathering of actors waiting for a scene. I was informed by an excited bank manager that one of the guys was Josh from the Nickelodeon show Drake & Josh. I had no idea who he was, but have since learned that he's a rising star and has lost a lot of weight.

The following day I went to the other end of the set where they were shooting a scene which involved lots of gunfire (50 caliber rifle as I was told by a worker on the set), people frantically running across the street and a bunch of people scrambling to get off a school bus. As they prepared to shoot the scene, the pedestrian onlookers were asked to move back, and back and back because apparently we were in the shot. Damn, that could have been my first major motion picture appearance.

I spoke briefly with a Production Assistant (they are the ones who have to control the gawkers) and asked her if she's been getting a lot of flack from people who can't get back to their offices. She said that for the most part everyone has been very nice and understanding.

I began taking pictures and another young woman approached me and said that I wasn't allowed to take pictures. What? Isn't this a free country? Isn't this my city? I said, "Hey, I'm a architecture student and I'm just taking pictures of that building." She didn't by it so I made sure I took the pictures when she wasn't looking.

I then walked around the building to the other side of the set where they were preparing to shoot a scene that involved a firing tank and Chinese and American military. As I got closer to the set, no one rushed up and made me move back. I ended up standing with a lot of extras and actors playing the military personnel. On this end of the set, no one told me to not take pictures. So, I snapped away.

Finally, an Assistant Director, or other such person in power, walked over and asked that anyone who isn't in the movie to please step back. For a moment, I thought that there was no way for them to know that I wasn't one of the extras. Maybe I should just stay where I was and see what happened. I quickly put my camera away and tried to blend in.

I thought that maybe I could walk up to the Assistant Director and tell him that I forgot exactly what I was supposed to do and request another copy of the script. Probably a bad idea. I stepped back and fled the scene. Literally.

Red Dawn stars Chris Hemsworth, Josh Peck and Adrianne Palicki. Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman's son, Connor Cruise, will also appear in the film.