The Firstling (formerly known as When the Bough Breaks) wrapped filming in Savannah in April. The film, about a pregnant woman who must avenge a supernatural creature to keep from losing her unborn child, stars Andie MacDowell, Louis Gossett, Jr., Milo Ventimiglia (Heroes, Rocky Balboa), Johnathan Schaech (Quarantine, That Thing You Do) and relative newcomer Rebecca Da Costa, who has an imdb.com uncredited tag as “beautiful girl/night club” on an episode of Entourage. She is also in the upcoming Val Kilmer flick 7 Below. The script was written by Nissar Modi.
Speaking of Savannah, we now know that the CMT TV show that the Savannah City Film Office was so cryptic about back in March is called Southern Nights. The show focuses on the relationships between ten “rowdy, country” (as described by the Savannah Morning News) friends, who have been moved into a Southern mansion in Savannah – think Jersey Shore with Spanish moss and Southern accents. The show, which filmed eight episodes in the coastal town, began airing on CMT in April.
The Steel Magnolias remake with Queen Latifah, Alfre Woodard and Phylicia Rashad was set to wrap on April 28th just after filming in the neighborhood near the Druid Hills Golf Club. The flick is being directed by former Alliance Theatre artistic director Kenny Leon.
Another rumor floating around the Georgia movie biz scene is that the sequel to Dumb and Dumber will be filmed here. The writing/directing brother duo of Peter and Bobby Farrelly, have announced that they are moving forward with an untitled sequel to their 1994 comedy. Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels are set to reprise their roles as Lloyd Christmas and Harry Dunne. Since the Farrellys seem to have taken a liking to the state since they filmed last year’s Hall Pass and this year’s The Three Stooges here, this rumor may actually come to fruition. Some folks may recall that Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd, which starred Eric Christian Olsen and Derek Richardson in the titular roles, was filmed in the Marietta area. The Farrellys neither wrote nor directed that barely watchable flick.
Waiting on more details on this one – an independent feature film called Plus One begins shooting in Atlanta on June 4th. Becky Glupczynski, line producer on The Girl and Maria Full of Grace, serves as the producer.
While it is great that the baseball flicks Trouble With the Curve (which just wrapped) and 42 (expected to begin shooting in Atlanta and Macon, along with other locales, within a month) have chosen to film in Georgia, there is a recently announced baseball movie project that will be guilty of borderline blasphemy if it shoots somewhere else. According to variety.com the rights to 2010 book The Last Hero: The Life Story of Henry Aaron by ESPN senior writer Howard Bryant have been obtained by producers Mike Tollin (Smallville, Coach Carter) and Glenn Rigberg (You Don’t Know Jack, Fatwa). The producing duo has lined up Barry Levinson, who helmed The Natural, one of filmdom’s best baseball movies, to direct. No official word yet on where the project will set up shop.
BET has renewed three of its scripted series which are filmed in Atlanta: The Game (sixth season), Let’s Stay Together (third season) and Reed Between The Lines (second season). The network continues to shoot the hour-long pilot Being Mary Jane (formerly known as Single Black Female) in Atlanta through May 11.
TV One will begin shooting eight episodes of the reality show Ladies of R&B in Atlanta on May 2nd. The show will follow Faith Evans, Nicci Gilbert (Brownstone), Keke Wyatt, Monifah Carter and Syleena Johnson. No confirmed premiere date but rumors have it hitting the air in fall of 2012
The theatrical release for the Billy Crystal flick Parental Guidance (a.k.a Us and Them and Call Me Artie) that filmed in the metro Atlanta area at the end of last year has been moved from the Thanksgiving weekend to Christmas Day.
Tyler Perry’s For Better or Worse, continues shooting its 35 episodes in Atlanta for TBS through August 5th. Also shooting in Atlanta through August (this one through the 27th) is Necessary Roughness for the USA network.
Although we reported in March that TLC plans to shoot The Preacher’s Wives in Atlanta, there is still no official start date.
If you are a fan of keeping track of where movies and TV shows are being filmed in the state (if you aren’t why are you wasting time on this column?) you may want to checkout atlantamovietours.com. The company offers film location tours.
