The principal characters were cast the following year and the film went into production in September 2009 in Mount Clemens, Michigan. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer announced its intention to remake Red Dawn in May 2008 and subsequently hired Bradley and Ellsworth. The film centers on a group of young people who defend their hometown from a North Korean invasion. The film stars Chris Hemsworth, Josh Peck, Josh Hutcherson, Adrianne Palicki, Isabel Lucas, and Jeffrey Dean Morgan. It is a remake of the 1984 film of the same name. Red Dawn is a 2012 American action film directed by Dan Bradley and written by Carl Ellsworth and Jeremy Passmore.