Story by Edward Pevos of MLive - epevos@MLive.com

Legend has it, a red dwarf creature has been haunting Detroit for decades. There's even a parade every year to liberate the city from the Nain Rouge. Now, there's a movie being shot in Michigan centering around it.

We are taking you on the set of "Devil's Night: Dawn of the Nain Rouge."

About the movie:

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Photo of lead actress Jesi Jensen courtesy of SLK Media Group. Scene shot at Detroit's Packard Plant

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Actress Jesi Jensen is a soldier who returns from a conflict abroad to her small rural Michigan town to become a police officer. She's assigned to a case which is surrounded in urban myth and legend.

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Photo by Edward Pevos of MLive

That myth and legend is borrowed by the Southeastern Michigan legend of the Nain Rouge, which goes all the way back to the founding of Detroit.

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Photo of Cinematographer Istvan Lettang and actress Jesi Jensen by Edward Pevos of MLive

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"While we don't push Detroit so much, because the film takes place in a fictional town, it's still Lake Orion, but it's a fictional Lake Orion," said director/producer Sam Logan Khaleghi. "We've altered the geography a bit. We've added a small town that doesn't exist called Old Town. It's between Lake Orion and Detroit. Detroit is still Detroit, but it's a much bigger metropolis in the film and presented in a fictional way in comparison."

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Photo from Detroit's Packard Plant courtesy of SLK Media Group

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"Jesi was a heavy equipment operator in the Virginia National Guard. She picked up everything so naturally," Sam added.

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Photo of lead actress Jesi Jensen and Lake Orion PD Chief Jerry Narsh courtesy of SLK Media Group

The movie is currently being shot in parts of Detroit, including the old Packard Plant. Scenes are also being shot throughout Metro Detroit, including Lake Orion and sets built in Wixom. "The audience will notice many major local landmarks in the film," said Sam.



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Photo from a scene at the East Lawn Cemetery in Lake Orion courtesy of SLK Media Group

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Real officers from the Lake Orion PD are acting in the movie. They also assisted in training Jesi for her role.

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Photo Christopher Mulder (Left) Brian Kirk (Center) and Roman Sobilo (Right) of the Lake Orion PD courtesy of SLK Media Group

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"Though Jesi had military background, she came to the department and wanted to become a police officer and literally did that in three days," said Chief Jerry Narsh of the Lake Orion PD.

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Photo of director/producer Sam Logan Khaleghi and actress Jesi Jensen by Edward Pevos of MLive

"It was amazing how fast she picked up how we walk, how we talk, and the actual training. The challenge I would give anybody is to put my officers next to Jesi in a uniform and ask them which one they think is the actor. They would never figure it out.”

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Pictured left to right: (Actor Grover McCants, Lake Orion Police Chief Jerry Narsh, MLive reporter Edward Pevos, lead actress Jesi Jensen and and director Sam Logan Khaleghi. (Photo taken by Bill Mealbach)

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Chief Narsh says using real officers in the movie will help make it as realistic as possible. "For the officers that are going to be in the film, it's exciting to represent the community and the department. We're going to do what we do. We're not doing it any different than how we actually do it. They are able to simply fall back on their training and who they are as a public safety officer. The viewer gets to see that on film. Hopefully for us, it's a level of realism that makes the movie accurate and honest that we wouldn't do this any differently if it were a live scenario. Accuracy is extremely important."

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Photo from a scene at the East Lawn Cemetery in Lake Orion courtesy of SLK Media Group

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While on the set, I watched the filming of part of a scene from the film where officer Finnick, played by Jesi, encounters the Nain Rouge in an old abandoned hospital.

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Photo of Bobby Laenen by Edward Pevos of MLive

Sam, the director along with Cinematographer Istvan Lettang shot the short scene numerous times to make sure it was perfect.

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Photo of Cinematographer Istvan Lettan and actress Jesi Jensen by Edward Pevos of MLive

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They also did it from multiple angles.

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Photo of sound mixer Matt Sisco and actress Jesi Jensen by Edward Pevos of MLive

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This movie is expected to be complete sometime in 2018.

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Photo by Edward Pevos of MLive

Most of the scenes with the Nain Rouge are done with special effects. So, we will have to wait to see the creature in action when the movie comes out.

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Photo by Edward Pevos of MLive

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VIDEO: Shooting a scene from the movie

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VIDEO: Talking with lead actress Jesi Jensen on set

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Sam says he is not receiving any film incentives to shoot it in Michigan.

"We love our hometowns so we wanted to make this picture in the great mitten state no matter what. I'm thrilled to be bringing the legend of the Nain Rouge to cinematic life in feature film form for the first time. There's beautiful geography here in Michigan that's connected to the urban folklore."



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Photo by Edward Pevos of MLive

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More behind the scenes pics from the filming of the movie:

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Photo of LOPD Chris Mulder (Left) - Director Sam Logan Khaleghi (Center) and LOPD Chief of Police Jerry Narsh (Right) courtesy of SLK Media Group

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Photo by Edward Pevos of MLive

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Photo of Bobby Laenen by Edward Pevos of MLive

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Jesi and Istvan reviewing the scene. Photo by Edward Pevos of MLive

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Photo by Edward Pevos of MLive

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Photo courtesy of SLK Media Group

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Photo courtesy of SLK Media Group

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Photo courtesy of SLK Media Group