Lights, camera, action!

The filming of a scene from Hall Pass in Gainesville a few days ago was not Gainesville's first brush with Hollywood, despite what you may have read or heard.<br /> <br /> And, northeast Georgia - and Georgia, as a whole - has a long history of playing host to Hollywood.<br /> <br /> But, let's start with Gainesville's connection.<br /> <br /> Did you know some courthouse scenes for My Cousin Vinny were shot in Gainesville? <br /> <br /> That's the 1992 comedy that centered around two young New Yorkers traveling through rural Alabama who are put on trial for a murder they did not commit, and the comic attempts of a cousin, Vincent Gambini, a newly minted lawyer, to defend them. The Lee Arrendale State Prison in Alto was the scene for other scenes for the movie.<br /> <br /> Gainesville has also been the setting for scenes for at least two television series, I'll Fly Away and Moving On.<br /> <br /> I'll Fly Away was set during during the Civil Rights era in an unnamed Southern state. It aired on NBC from 1991 to 1993. Law and Order's Jack McCoy (Sam Waterston) played district attorney Forrest Bedford whose increasing involvement in civil rights cases in the late 1950s posed problems for his family.<br /> <br /> Moving On was the story of a pair of big-rig truckers, one a crusty old veteran (played by Claude Aiken, himself, a Georgian) and the other a college-educated youngster (Frank Converse), who team up to haul cargo across the country. It aired from 1974 to 1976.<br /> <br /> Several episodes or parts of episodes for Moving On were filmed in an around Gainesville. Specifically, I remember a scene outside the Mar-Jac Poultry plant near the airport; several that were shot in downtown Gainesville; one in a laundromat on Main Street near the city's public safety building, in which, I believe, Jene Robocker, a well-known actress in local theatre circles, appeared; and, another at a chicken farm near Chestnut Mountain in which the late J. Wesley Merritt of Gainesville appeared.<br /> <br /> Gainesville is not the only place in northeast Georgia where movie producers have stopped to shoot a scene or two... or more of a feature. Perhaps the most notable are I'd Climb The Highest Mountain (1951), filmed in the Dahlonega and Helen areas, and Deliverance (1972), filmed in and around Rabun County, much of it on the Chattooga River. <br /> <br /> But there are plenty of other movies with a northeast Georgia connection: Cobb, the story of Ty Cobb, the Georgia Peach and baseball hall-of-famer, a portion of which was shot in Royston, Cobb's hometown; Independence Day, the sci-fi blockbuster, had some scenes that were shot in Blue Ridge; Stars and Bars, with some filming in Clarkesville; and, Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius, the story of the legendary Georgia golfer, with some filming on the golf courses at Chateau Elan near Braselton.<br /> <br /> There are others, I'm sure, but you get the idea. And, this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to movies and television series that have a link to our state... from the mountains to the sea.<br /> <br /> One other note: is it any wonder it cost so much to produce and movie and to buy a ticket to see one? Consider this: the production crew that shot the Gainesville scene for Hall Pass a few weeks ago spent the better part of a week in town. They arrived on a Monday or Tuesday for a late Friday afternoon shoot that consisted of one very brief scene around the Days Inn swimming pool. Nearly a full week's work, at least, for a scene that by some estimates will last less than five minutes when it makes it to the big screen.<br /> <br /> (EDITOR'S NOTE: Some of the information contained in this column came from http://ngeorgia.com/ang/Shot_in_North_Georgia (northga.com) and http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071012/ (imdb.com).<br /> <br /> <I>(Ken Stanford is News Director for WDUN NEWS TALK 550, MAJIC 102.9, 1240 ESPN RADIO and AccessNorthGa.com.)<I>

http://accesswdun.com/article/2010/4/228904