Mel Gibson to star in new thriller being filmed in downtown Las Cruces

LAS CRUCES, New Mexico -- A Las Cruces woman snapped several photos of a man who who strongly resembled Mel Gibson on the set of a new movie being filmed in downtown Las Cruces on Monday.

"I think it's awesome that they're filming in Las Cruces," said Bonnie Stichter, who said she is a big fan of Gibson's movies. "I'm so excited. My heart's pumping. I'm hoping to actually get a photo with him."

Crews were seen filming Monday morning in the Electronic Caregiver parking lot on Main Street, just south of the downtown plaza. An ABC-7 photographer was asked to leave the parking lot as crews worked on a closed set.

According to a report from Deadline, a movie starring Gibson called "Hot Seat" is a thriller that was set to begin filming in New Mexico on Nov. 1. In the movie, "an ex-hacker is forced to break into high-level banking institutions by an anonymous man who planted a bomb under his chair at his office."

The report did not explicitly state what city would host the flick, but it was believed to be Las Cruces.

"To have him here in Las Cruces is really a lot of fun," said Mayor Ken Miyagishima, who loves the movie 'Braveheart.'

“We’ve been trying to grow film in Las Cruces for years now," said Ross Marks, an award-winning filmmaker who now teaches the next generation at New Mexico State University. "Word is finally getting out that Southern New Mexico is a viable and terrific place to make a movie.”

“It’s really making me realize that I’m in the right place for this to start up and for it to grow," said Freddy Ronquillo, a junior majoring in film.

“It's a great opportunity to work with top notch actors," said Trystan Urquidez-Rodriguez, a senior majoring in film.

According to Film Las Cruces, tax incentives increased in 2019 for films produced outside of Bernalillo and Santa Fe counties. The film industry invests $500 million annually in New Mexico.

"It’s very important that the entire state of New Mexico see a piece of that action," said Jonathon Sepp, the film liaison for Film Las Cruces.

He said the tax break is 25% to 30% for films produced in Bernalillo and Santa Fe counties. Outside of those counties, the tax break is now 30% to 35%.

This is the second movie to be filming in Las Cruces over the past week. As ABC-7 previously reported, the Bruce Willis movie 'Knight' was in production in the downtown area for several days last week. The two movies are also the first to be filmed in New Mexico since the deadly prop gun mishap on the set of the Alec Baldwin flick 'Rust' in Santa Fe.