Wednesday, October 31, 2001
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Wednesday, October 31, 2001 |
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Wynn's Pond, Starr's Mill star in new movie By MICHAEL BOYLAN
Coweta and Fayette counties are going Hollywood. Wynn's Pond is a prominent location in the upcoming Touchstone Pictures release, "Sweet Home Alabama." Pigeon Creek Films, a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, began filming at the location this week. Andy Tennant, who directed "Anna and the King," is directing the film. The pond borders Wynnmeade subdivision on Peachtree City's west side. The set is just across the county line in Coweta. One of the locations in the film is a cabin on Wynn's Pond on private property, known as the Featherston Fishing Club. They will also be filming a pontoon plane taking off and landing on the pond. "Sweet Home Alabama" is a romantic comedy starring Reese Witherspoon as Melanie, a young woman who runs away from her white trash background and husband and reinvents herself as a New York socialite. In New York, she falls in love with the mayor's son, played by Patrick Dempsey, who proposes to her. Melanie returns home to finalize her divorce from her beer-swilling pontoon pilot husband but ends up falling in love with him again. Other cast members include Glenn Close as Melanie's mother, Candice Bergen as the mayor and Ethan Embry as Melanie's gay friend from Alabama, as well as Jean Smart, Fred Ward and Mary Kay Place. Filming began yesterday and the crew plans to be in the area for eight days. Though most of the filming will be done during the day time, they will be doing some night filming at the location as well. Citizens may have even seen the pontoon plane flying in the area over the past several days. Another location that will be used in the film is Starr's Mill, which will be a factory in the film. Location manager Michael Riley is from the Atlanta area and found Atlanta to be the perfect place to film the remainder of the movie. Along with filming in Coweta County and Starr's Mill, the production will travel to Rome, Crawfordville, Tybee Island and Atlanta proper. Riley chose the Featherston Fishing Club because it is remote and has been used in films before. "Atlanta is a great place to film because it gives us rural areas outside of the city and great crews, as well as places that can match up with New York locations," said line producer Michael Fortrell. The location scouting for the film only took a few days. The producers of the film are shooting for a summer 2002 release. As the first day of filming began, the cast and crew were enjoying the weather and hospitality of the local citizens.
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