If you’ve been a fan of MovieSet for a while then you’ll know that one of the films we’ve been extensively covering is Sweetwater, director Martin Guigui’s movie about Nate “Sweetwater” Clifton, the first black NBA player. While attenting the AFM, Sweetwater producer Michel Shane (I Robot, Catch Me If You Can) sat down with MovieSet’s Quinn Bender and shared the latest word about the project. We now have our exclusive video interview with Shane up on our MovieSet @ AFM headquarters as well as the Sweetwater page. Find out how last week’s presidential election changed the playing field for the movie and how it’s all coming together for an early 2009 start to principal photography.

“Greatest lesson before entering the film industry is to accept whole heartedly that there is no rhyme or reason as to how a movie gets made. This applies to indie filmmaking as much as does to studio pictures,” writes Martin in his latest blog post just made today. “There are no insurances along the way and you have to operate on a platform of faith, not hope. You have to know deep down inside that the film you have chosen to make will get made, no matter what.”

If you want to know who landed the part of Sweetwater’s coach Ned Irish, as well as who else is circling roles in this anticipated production, go read Martin Guigui’s latest blog post which is exclusive to MovieSet!

Wood played the part of Avon Barksdale, the tough Baltimore drug czar, on the first three seasons of “The Wire”. He also delivered a memorable performance as high school football star Julius Campbell opposite Denzel Washington in “Remember the Titans” and had a smaller part in Richard Kelly’s “Southland Tales” released last year. He’s also got some prior b-ball movie-related experience to draw on having played a player in the 1994 flick “Above the Rim”.

And not only did Martin provide us with his latest exclusive, he also dished out who else is circling his project. “Kevin Costner is reading the script this weekend thanks in part to Elie Samaha, who is good friends with Kevin, but primarily thanks to David Harbour, our Producer/financier who is willing to stretch the budgetery constraint to accomodate Costner’s talent. I call that good buisness.”

Want to find out which “8 Mile” star and what former Best Supporting Actor Oscar winner are also interested in starring in “Sweetwater”? You know the drill: check out MovieSet’s “Sweetwater” director’s blog to find out!

UPDATE! I just found out that MovieSet is getting exclusive video from the casting call sessions held in New York City. When that video goes live on the site I’ll let you know.

“And now we enter the home stretch. 4 to 5 weeks before the first day of principle photography. Casting is getting intense. We had West coast auditions for the role of Sweetwater and I love Wood Harris. Since we had already set up East coast casting sessions we’re going to slam through those and make a final decision on Thursday May 29th. Announcement to follow. Very exciting times!”

Head on over and read Martin Guigui’s latest blog entry to find out which funnyman and which former Batman star have just been asked to join the cast. The “Sweetwater” blog is a great example of the kind of interaction that MovieSet is providing filmmakers — and we have plans to do a lot more of this in the days to come.

a