Filming Begins This Week in Cleveland for I, Alex Cross

Principal photography began this week in Cleveland on the film I, Alex Cross, based on a character created by crime novelist James Patterson. The author himself posted this comment yesterday on his Facebook page: "En route to Cleveland today to check in on the Alex Cross movie. This is really happening, folks — filming started Monday. I might even try to swing a Hitchcock-esque cameo while I'm on set. Think you all will be able to spot me?"

The film stars Tyler Perry as Dr. Alex Cross in what we believe to be an origins-style storyline, how the psychologist came to be an expert homicide detective. (Though there is a book titled I, Alex Cross, the 16th in the series by Patterson, everything we've read about the film's plot is different than the book's synopsis. Indeed, the official film summary — As Cross investigates the hit man's gruesome murders, Sullivan decides to send him a deadly message by murdering his wife in cold blood. Now enraged, Cross vows to hunt down the killer if it's the last thing he does. However, Sullivan is a serial killing mastermind and continues to evade Cross while pushing him to an ethical breaking point as a cop and father. As Cross closes in on the killer, he discovers evidence that points to the unimaginable—a revelation that could change everything. — reads much closer to that of the book Cross, the 7th in the series.)

Directed by Rob Cohen, I, Alex Cross also stars Matthew Fox, Ed Burns and Jean Reno. No release date has been set, but is expected to be sometime in 2012.