A movie starring Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg will begin filming in the city at the end of the month.

Crews will soon begin setting up downtown to film action and stunt scenes for a law enforcement spoof called "The Other Guys."

The comedy will be directed by Adam McKay, whose credits include "Anchorman," "Talledega Nights" and "The Goods."

The movie is set in New York City and the stars will not travel here for the filming, said Shawn Duffy, a casting director for the film. Some of the action scenes will be filmed here and stuntmen will be used for the shots.

He said extras will be needed for background in shots of neighborhood scenes. Some of the action for local folks could include sitting on a stoop or milling on the street, but there will likely not be any dialogue.

Downtown hotels are expected to see a bump in business as about 150 cast and crew members move in later this month and stay until early October.

The crews' workweek will run from Wednesday to Sunday, to minimize interruption to downtown commuters, said Bob Van Amburgh, executive assistant to Mayor Jerry Jennings. He said the city is working with the Columbia Pictures crew to arrange specific locations and times for the filming and will likely finalize details early next week.

"The Other Guys" is scheduled for an August 2010 release, according to the Internet Movie Database, imdb.com.

The plot is a takeoff on the prototypical cop movie.

"Basically, the idea is that you have your star cops of New York City, picture like a Bruce Willis and Mel Gibson-type pair," McKay recently told Mtv.com. "They're the guys who get all the car chases, all the girls. But this is the story of the guys in the desk next to them, the other guys. It's Wahlberg, Ferrell and a big ensemble cast around them, in an action-comedy kinda crime movie."

A Columbia spokesman did not immediately return a phone call.

This will be the fourth film shot in the Capital Region in the last year. Last summer, a Japanese filmmaker set up for a few weeks on the USS Slater for "Battle Under Orion," the story of crews on a Japanese submarine and an American destroyer escort in the waning days of World War II. It will be released in Japan later this year.

In summer 2008, director Ang Lee shot parts of the current release "Taking Woodstock" in Rensselaer and Columbia counties.

In May, Angelina Jolie was in Albany to film action scenes, including one in which she rode atop a tanker truck on ramps off Interstate 787. The thriller, titled "Salt," is scheduled for release next summer.

Scott Waldman can be reached at 454-5080 or by e-mail at swaldman@timesunion.com.

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