Photograph by Matt Walljasper
With summer heat bearing down and pop-up storms providing double-edged relief, you might think the Hollywood of the South would slow down this time of year. Nope, as always there are many films and television programs shooting or preparing to shoot all throughout north Georgia. We’ve had more than our fair share of new sets, celeb sightings, and yellow filming signs this month, so let’s get straight to your go-to source of ATL filming news.
Get ready to spot Jennifer Aniston, Julia Roberts, Kate Hudson, and Jason Sudeikis on the set of Mother’s Day (production code: FALCON), a new film from Garry Marshall, the man behind such other interchangeable holiday-centric films as New Year’s Eve and Valentine’s Day. Production started earlier this month with signs spotted off of I-85 and Jimmy Carter Boulevard on August 14. More recently, we’ve also seen signs leading to Piedmont Park. The biggest location so far is a home on Linwood Avenue, not far from Manuel’s Tavern. Filming will take place here between August 21-25.
The Divergent Series: Allegiant Part I (ELEMENT) is winding down after spending the summer with us. The dystopian young adult book series-turned-movie, starring Shailene Woodley and Theo James, had a visible presence at the High Museum of Art on July 20 before moving back into some studio time. Signs for ELEMENT were placed off Jimmy Carter Boulevard on August 9 and in Buckhead on August 16, where Allegiant’s basecamp was located off East Paces Ferry Road near Buckhead Atlanta. After that, more signs were plopped near the old Georgia Archives Building, which you’ll remember was featured prominently in Ant-Man. Don’t expect to run into too many more ELEMENT signs, however, unless the cast and crew return for reshoots.
Earlier this month, we gave you the inside scoop on the CW’s Containment (1159). Now production has started on the first season’s order and crews were witnessed setting up next to the Midtown MARTA station on August 11, as well as working in south downtown. They returned to the Carnegie Monument in Hardy Ivy Park, where we previously spotted them filming the pilot, setting up fences and other nasty quarantine barriers for an August 14-15 shoot. This past week they filmed in Smyrna at the abandoned Emory Adventist Hospital.
Don’t be surprised if you spot Jennifer Garner or Queen Latifah in Atlanta, as they’re still in town filming Miracles from Heaven (LANTRAC). We told you a little about this film last month, but now we’ve spotted them in many more locations. In late July, filming took place at the Rockdale Medical Center in Conyers before coming downtown to film at the Georgia Aquarium on August 2. After that, crews spent a good chunk of time filming at the North Decatur Presbyterian Church. As of now, you can find more LANTRAC signs out in Covington.
Elsewhere in metro Atlanta, FOX’s Sleepy Hollow (SH) fully relocated from North Carolina and has been busy shooting its third season this past month. In late July, Fairlie-Poplar stood in for Boston. We saw additional location shoots at Oglethorpe University on August 14 and at the Gwinnett Historic Courthouse in Lawrenceville this week. In other TV news, USA’s Satisfaction (SAT) put up signs in Midtown on July 20 and on Lenox Road at GA-400 on August 1. Sister shows The Vampire Diaries (LOC) and The Originals (TOGS) have traveled a bit. The former was in Cartersville on July 31 and at the Porterdale Mill the next day. The latter filmed a scene at Hay House in Macon. Home Free (HF) was spotted in Cumming on August 17, and we saw a little more of TBS’s The Detour (DS1) at the Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, as well as in Stone Mountain last week.
And if that’s not enough to get you set-and-celeb hunting, there’s a cornucopia of projects coming up. Next week, the Dolly Parton made-for-TV biopic, Coat of Many Colors, will begin filming in Covington. Pre-production has already begun on Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising, so look for Seth Rogen, Dave Franco, Atlanta-native Chloë Grace Moretz, and Zac Efron imminently. New NBC series Game of Silence (GOS) will also begin shooting soon, as well as a film called Hot Summer Nights. But the biggest film you’ll see soon, with the biggest stars for that matter, will be the sci-fi adventure Passengers. It will bring Chris Pratt, Jennifer Lawrence, Laurence Fishburne, and Michael Sheen. This month might have been crazy, but it’s certainly shaping up for next month to be even better. Stay tuned for more filming updates!
