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Decatur racks up movie credits
by Jonathan Cribbs
Jonathan@dekalbchamp.com
A man with long, bedraggled dreadlocks popped out of the side of Wordsmiths bookstore in downtown Decatur on a recent Tuesday morning with a cabal of walkie-talkie-clutching followers dutifully in tow. Moving quickly, he looked toward the sky and talked about how the now-defunct store would look on camera. He wore ratty jeans and a white T-shirt exposing tattoos that ran along both arms. Two police officers stood near him, silent.
He was clearly somebody. That much was clear. You could see it in the faces of confused onlookers walking toward the courthouse down the hill or nearby restaurants. Who is that guy? What the heck is he doing? Who are all these people? Whoa. What happened to the bookstore?
Few seemed to recognize it was Rob Zombie, the shock-rocker and horror film director who, overnight, had turned a block of downtown Decatur into Haddonfield, Ill., the fictional killing grounds of legendary Halloween screen killer Michael Myers.
It was just one of three major film and television productions shot in Decatur this month. The sudden Hollywood influx was quickly covered in local blogs and newspapers as star-struck residents walked by sets and snapped photos on digital cameras, uploading them to the Internet. People joked whether Decatur might become a second stomping ground for Hollywood interests.
Zombie’s film, H2 (or Halloween 2), a sequel to his 2007 reboot of the popular horror franchise, shot at the bookstore in the morning and afternoon and spent the night in Decatur Cemetery, said Cheryl Burnette, the city of Decatur’s special events coordinator. The production camped most of its equipment in Covington, however, where it was also shooting, she said.
Malcolm McDowell, the film’s most widely known actor, plays Dr. Samuel Loomis in H2. Zombie’s crew turned Wordsmith’s into Leeland Books, a fictional bookstore where McDowell’s character was signing copies of a book he wrote about his relationship with Myers, who he famously treated after Myers killed several people as a child in Zombie’s first movie. The production sought local residents as extras, ostensibly to act as Loomis’ fans.
The day before, an ABC television pilot shot in The Old Courthouse on the Square next door. Rain on Monday kept the production shooting inside as the crew blasted light from the front lawn into the courthouse windows. A man who said he worked with the production claimed the show is called Solving Charlie, though the project has also been temporarily titled “The Untitled Daniel Cerone Project.” Cerone is a television writer and producer with such credits as Showtime’s Dexter and The WB’s Charmed to his name.
The pilot centers on a low-level detective whose genius 11-year-old brother helps him solve crimes, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Both of these projects arrived just two weeks after Columbia Pictures’ forthcoming horror-comedy Zombieland spent two days shooting at Hi-Tech Gas & Auto at the corner of Ponce de Leon Avenue and North Candler Street in downtown Decatur. The film stars Woody Harrelson, who didn’t shoot in Decatur, though some residents saw Abigail Breslin, Emma Stone and Mike White.
Local film productions have been getting more attention from rapidly updating bloggers and news sites, Burnette said. She also contributes to The Decatur Minute, a blog run by the city that kept readers updated about the productions with photos and copy as they shot in Decatur. For years, the city has been a popular destination for film and television productions, particularly the courthouse and Agnes Scott College, she said.
But residents are likely seeing the fruits of legislation signed into law in May that guaranteed up to 30 percent in tax credits for film productions that shoot in Georgia, said Lee Thomas, senior locations liaison for the Georgia Department of Economic Development. Studios that shoot here are given a 20 percent tax credit and an additional 10 percent credit if they include an animated logo of Georgia in the film’s end credits.
Eleven film and television projects are in various stages of production right now – more than all the projects shot in Georgia in 2008, Thomas said.
“It’s a record for us, and it’s just going to get busier as the year goes on it looks like,” she said.
About a decade ago, studios chose locations based on what was in the story. But after Canada offered tax credits, American states began losing production dollars, and they began to beef up their own tax credit programs. Now, that drives where studios shoot, Thomas said.
“Because of the nature of the business and because there are all these incentives, the tax departments for all the studios will tell these projects on the front end, ‘Here are the places you can choose from,’” she said.
So, could Decatur and DeKalb County residents see more stars anytime soon?
“More people are definitely coming to Georgia,” she said. “[In Decatur] that courthouse has always been popular. Agnes Scott has always been popular. It looks great on film. It’s just a very beautiful place.”
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