MOVIE MOJO: Tiny Ga. town enjoys double life on silver screen

There’s a tiny town in eastern Georgia that might look familiar on the big screen.

With a dwindling population of about 500 and nary a Golden Arch in sight, Crawfordville in Taliaferro County doubles for historic Deep South hamlets. It’s been the shooting location for 13 movies over three decades —- from “Summer of My German Soldier” (1978), a Kristy McNichol made-for-TV teen flick, to “Paris Trout” (1991), an HBO movie with Dennis Hopper, and “Sweet Home Alabama,” (2001) starring Reese Witherspoon.

The latest is “Get Low,” starring Robert Duvall and written and directed by Aaron Schneider. Set in Tennessee in the 1930s, it’s a drama of an eccentric codger who suspects his town wouldn’t give him a decent burial. To test this theory, he stages his own funeral. The “Get Low” crew is now filming.

To learn more about how one of the state’s smallest and poorest counties deals with celebrity in its midst, we called Robert Kendrick, 79, a Crawfordville native and the town’s official Hollywood liaison.

Q: What brings moviemakers to Crawfordville?

A: This was a farming community, no industry, and we haven’t changed in 70 years. When Wal-Mart opened it ran out almost all our stores. It looks the same as when I was a boy, except all the shops are closed.

Q: Aside from recognition —- if that’s valuable in itself —- what’s the town get from these location shoots?

A: It helps the economy a little, like when they hire the Sheriff’s Department for security or rent the gym and hire local people as extras. The crew rents the lodge, an old Holiday Inn, and they fill every room. They can rent private homes for the stars, but I don’t know too much about that.

Q: Do the visitors mingle with the townsfolk?

A: When they made “Sweet Home Alabama,” they told us not to bother them. But I get calls from all over the state and South Carolina. Fifty percent want to get hired as extras, the other 50 percent want to come watch the filming. When the crew arrived they put dirt on U.S. 278, our main street, since this is supposed to look like Tennessee in the ’30s. Then on Feb. 28 [the producers] will burn down a hundred-year-old house —- the owner was planning to tear it down, and they got a hold of it and can use the fire in the movie. People want to see that.

Q: Your title, “Hollywood liaison,” sounds glamorous, entailing trips to L.A. and champagne parties by the pool. …

A: No, no, I was a U.S. Air Force master sergeant, retired. I moved back here in 2000. Now I’m the director of the Historical Society. We’re open once a week. I’ve never been to Hollywood. I like it here.

Reel Aspirations

A free seminar Saturday aims to “educate and inspire independent filmmakers of African-American descent to tell their unique stories.”

D Street Pictures, a subsidiary of a German-based production and distribution company, is presenting what it calls Reel Aspirations and a contest called Don’t Wait for Your Break … Make It at the Auburn Avenue Research Library.

Reel Aspirations. 2 p.m. Saturday. Free. Auburn Avenue Research Library, 101 Auburn Ave. N.E., Atlanta. www.reelaspirations.com

‘Cleopatra’ at Fox Theatre

The kings of ancient Egypt are back in vogue in Atlanta —- from the big Tut show at the civic center to recent Atlanta Opera performances of Philip Glass’ “Akhnaten.” Now the Fox Theatre is joining the fad.

“Cleopatra,” the 1963 Elizabeth Taylor-Richard Burton sandals-and-eyeliner epic, will be shown at 7 p.m. Monday. It’s in conjunction with Emory University’s Carlos Museum and the Atlanta Film Festival.

Fox Theatre, 660 Peachtree St. N.E., Atlanta. $10. 404-817-8700, www.ticketmaster.com

Macon Film & Video Festival

The five-day bonanza dubbed MaGa begins Feb. 18 and the line-up is starry.

“Vince Dooley: Beyond Football” is the opening night headliner, a biopic on the life of the popular former University of Georgia coach. The man who won 201 games and a national championship will be on hand to speak about the film and answer questions, along with the filmmakers.

Actress Carrie Preston, a Macon native, hosts the Georgia premiere of “Ready? OK!,” a comedy about the deeper meaning of family —- in which Preston plays a single mother who wonders, among other complications, why her young son enjoys dressing in drag. A Q&A with the actress and the film’s writer-producer, James Vasquez, follows the film.

For a calendar and locations: www.maconfilmfestival.com.

Jonas Brothers in 3-D

Advance tickets for the limited engagement of Walt Disney Pictures’ “Jonas Brothers: The 3-D Concert Experience” go on sale today, Disney announced this week. The movie opens in theaters on Feb. 27.