Hollywood, eat your heart out.
It’s well documented how Georgia has snatched away much of your high-profile movie and TV production business of late. But who knew the tour buses went right along with it?
Used to be Tinseltown was overrun with motor coaches schlepping tourists to all the places the stars lived, worked and partied at. Now, that’s all gone South as gawkers pretty much have to come to Atlanta if they want to see where everyone from JLo to Curly and Moe makes the magic happen.
Luckily, you can follow any of these four tours and take in all the sights and sounds of what’s coming to be known as “Hollywood South.” Each one is organized along a different theme, like classic Oscar winners or Most Likely to Feature Zombies, and travels all over the metro area (and well beyond, in one case). That could come in handy this holiday season, when any number of strong personalities are forced to co-exist in the same house for days, all in the name of “family harmony.”
About to claw each others’ eyes out? Get on the “bus” instead!
FOUR TOURS FOR THE PEACH STATE CINEAST
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Tour No. 1: And the Oscar goes to ...
Making stops at: Key sights and settings from five Academy Award-winning films shot here and on the Georgia coast.
Buy a ticket for: Anyone who loves good films or great performances (four actors nabbed Oscars for their work here). Or anyone you want out of the house for an extended period, as this will be our most far-flung tour.
Where it goes:
1. Starts in historic Druid Hills, the main setting for 1989 Best Picture winner “Driving Miss Daisy. Snap photos at 822 Lullwater Road, which was the on-screen home of “Miss Daisy” herself (best actress winner Jessica Tandy).
2. Next, the bus heads through Little Five Points to The Shed at Glenwood (475 Bill Kennedy Way, Atlanta). It doubled as the Memphis restaurant where Leigh Anne Tuohy (best actress Sandra Bullock) and family’s evening out in “The Blind Side” included a chance encounter with Michael Oher’s (Quinton Aaron) long-lost brother.
3. Next, head south on I-75 to McDonough, where parts of the Battle of Antietam took place in a field near what is now the Wesley Lakes subdivision along Jonesboro Road in 1989’s “Glory.” It won three Oscars, including Denzel Washington’s first (as best supporting actor).
4. Catch some Zzz’s as the bus makes the 300-mile trip to Savannah’s Chippewa Square, renowned as the spot where Forrest Gump (best actor Tom Hanks) chattered away on a park bench. “Gump” may have won best picture in 1994, but it didn’t have the power to keep the bench there permanently; instead, the famous prop is inside the Savannah History Museum (303 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.), which the bus will swing by on its way out of town.
5. Finally, the bus heads for Rabun County, where much of the action in “Deliverance” was filmed on the Chattooga River along the Georgia- South Carolina border. Extra time is built in for the hardiest passengers to duplicate star Jon Voigt’s scaling of the cliffs in the 1,200-foot-deep Tallulah Gorge. The 1972 film was nominated for three Academy Awards, including best picture and best director, but unfortunately, won none. On the plus side, if a holiday house guest is acting up, you can arrange to have them left behind to “squeal like a pig” in the rugged Rabun countryside.
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Tour No. 2: Next year’s Oscar goes to ...
Making stops at: Places that likely will get lots of big-screen play in the near future, based on the amount of time a handful of soon-to-be-released high-profile movies spent filming there (And yes, we’re kidding about that whole “Oscar” thing!).
Buy a ticket for: Anyone you know with a lifetime subscription to “Entertainment Weekly” or — considering Stops 1 and 5 — Maxim magazine. Or you, if you want to be the one yelling “Spoiler Alert!” all next year.
Where it goes:
1. Starts with a liberal dosing of suntan lotion during the journey to Mary Alice Park (1999 Mary Alice Park Road, Cumming). This stretch on Lake Lanier is said to stand in for the Lake Michigan beachfront in “American Pie: Reunion,” entry No. 4 in the ribald series due out April 6, 2012. The bus then swings by Newton High School (140 Ram Drive, Covington), aka the reunion site of the film’s title, on the way to:
2. The Boisfeuillet Jones Atlanta Civic Center (395 Piedmont Ave. N.E., Atlanta). Judging by the hundreds of extras used in a huge gospel choir scene, it will be prominently featured in the Dolly Parton/Queen Latifah film, “Joyful Noise,” which opens Jan. 13.
3. Keep humming gospel tunes as the bus heads about 10 blocks north on Piedmont to Atlanta’s newest nonstop soundstage, aka Piedmont Park. Along with at least a half-dozen other movies and TV shows to shoot there of late (“The Change Up,” “What To Expect When You’re Expecting,” “Single Ladies”), “Parental Guidance” staged an elaborate half-pipe skateboarding scene with Billy Crystal and Tony Hawk. Bette Midler and Marisa Tomei also are in the movie, out next November.
4. Speaking of “What To Expect,” it tied up traffic for days (and nighttime rush hours) around Smith’s Olde Bar (1578 Piedmont Ave. N.E., Atlanta). Out in May, it stars Cameron Diaz, Chris Rock, Dennis Quaid, Chace Crawford and Jennifer Lopez, aka JLo. Bonus stop: Glory Be Salon, a couple doors down on Piedmont, served as the special green room for “Who’re you callin’ a diva?” JLo.
5. Finally, the tour cruises up to the Buckhead estate (490 West Paces Ferry Road) where “The Three Stooges,” of all things, filmed scenes. Developer Lee Najjar, known to “Real Housewives of Atlanta” fans as the elusive “Big Poppa,” put the nine-bedroom, 11-bathroom manse on the market for $25 million a couple of years ago; who knows how much more it might actually go for if Stooges’ stars Sean Hayes, Larry David, Jane Lynch, Jennifer Hudson and — sigh — Snooki are seen cavorting there when the movie is released in April.
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Tour No. 3: It ... is ... alive! It ... is ... undead!
Making stops at: Five places that confirm metro Atlanta’s place as the, uh, undead center of the celluloid universe.
Buy a ticket for: Anyone caught up in the current pop culture craze for zombies, vampires and the like. Plus that one guest who finds fault with your holiday dinner menu year after year (Maybe s/he will get eaten by zombies instead).
Where it goes: 1. Starts at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre (2800 Cobb Galleria Pkwy., Atlanta), which played the role of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the Season 1 finale of “The Walking Dead.” It’s there that the series’ main characters took refuge from flesh-eating zombies, only to have to hightail it out to the metro Atlanta countryside just before the “CDC” exploded.
2. Next it’s on to the real CDC (1600 Clifton Road, Atlanta), which was the literal and figurative backdrop for “Contagion,” the recent thriller about a mysterious, deadly virus that incites panic around the globe as scientists race to find its cause and cure. Besides filming the CDC’s exterior, Contagion’s producers filmed inside on sets constructed to be more camera-friendly to stars like Kate Winslet and Jude Law.
3. Still not scared enough? Well, luckily, it’s only a short drive along Clairmont Road to Agnes Scott College (141 East College Ave., Decatur). Don’t be fooled by the gorgeous, jewel-sized campus. In 1997, the makers of “Scream 2” transformed it into fictional “Windsor College,” where stars Courteney Cox, Liev Schreiber and Neve Campbell all tried to dodge a crazed serial killer.
4. Next up is Netherworld Haunted House (6624 Dawson Blvd., Norcross). It’s only open during Halloween season, but it’s been permanently enshrined on-screen in the climactic scenes of “Zombieland,” the 2009 “post-apocalyptic comedy” starring Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg and Emma Stone.
5. Forget the undead and focus on the blood suckers of the CW Network’s “The Vampire Diaries” as the bus heads west on I-20 to Covington. This quaint Newton County town, previously home to TV’s “In The Heat of the Night” and “The Dukes of Hazzard,” now plays “Mystic Falls, Va.,” a small town haunted by supernatural beings. Mystic’s mayor lives in “Lockwood Mansion” (in real life, Worthington Manor) located just off the Covington square on East Street.
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Tour No. 4: Are you ready for some football?
Making stops at: Key sights and settings from five popular movies and TV series that revolve around life on (and off) the gridiron.
Buy a ticket for: Anyone for whom Madden 12, a half-dozen fantasy leagues and at least 100 high school, college and NFL games every week aren’t quite enough to sate their pigskin cravings . . . Plus your overly chatty, very single sister-in-law who’s visiting for the holidays. She’ll be out of your hair for a few hours, and hey, maybe she’ll meet a nice guy!
Where it goes:
1. Starts in Cherokee County at Etowah High School (6565 Putnam Ford Road, Woodstock), where some key moments in 2000’s “Remember the Titans” took place. Sprayberry and Druid Hills high schools also were featured, but when a stadium at least 20 years old was needed for the circa-1971 flick, Etowah — and the bell-bottomed, polyester-clad extras in the stands — all were ready for their close-up.
2. The bus driver pops a “Tapestry” cassette into the 8-track deck to keep the early ’70s mood going and heads next to Fulton County Airport-Charlie Brown Field (3952 Aviation Circle NW, Atlanta). That’s where the 1970 plane crash that killed 75 Marshall University football players, coaches and boosters was vividly re-created for “We Are Marshall,” the 2006 movie that starred Matthew McConaughey and Matthew Fox. As a bonus, the bus will swing by DeKalb Memorial Stadium (3789 Memorial College Ave., Clarkston), where former Gov. Sonny Perdue had a cameo role as the coach of the school Marshall played just before taking off on that ill-fated flight.
3. The mood brightens considerably as the tour moves on to 2011 and the bright lights of Atlantic Station. Midtown’s signature “Live, Work, Play” community is also the stand-in for sunny San Diego in the sitcom “The Game.” It’s all about the players on a fictional pro football team and the women in their lives. Season 5 of what’s become BET’s biggest hit premieres in January.
4. Time for a tailgating break. So it’s on to the Georgia Dome, which is the (disguised Long Island) home to the pro football team psychologically tended to by Dr. Dani Santino (Callie Thorne) on the USA network dramedy “Necessary Roughness.” Passengers can sip cold beverages in the same parking lot where Santino’s kids were busted for selling star wide receiver (and T.O. doppelganger) Terrence “TK” King’s jerseys at a steep markup in one episode.
5. Finally, the tour concludes inside the Dome, where for two days in 2002, more than 40,000 extras and band members from Clark Atlanta, Morris Brown and Southwest DeKalb High all combined for the high-stepping, high-energy competition at the heart of big-screen feature “Drumline.”
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Eating (and drinking and smelling the roses) with the stars
Who needs Grauman’s Chinese Theater? We’ve got Johnny’s Hideaway! Based on frequent star sightings, here’s where to hang out when you want to rub some famous elbows:
• Eat/drink: Abbatoir, Antico Pizza, Aria, Buckhead Diner, Chops, Davio’s, Ecco, Johnny’s Hideaway, Nava, One Midtown Grill, Rathbun’s, St. Regis Wine Bar, Straits, Two Urban Licks, Whiskey Blue, Whole Foods Buckhead, Woodfire Grill.
• Culture/sports: Atlanta Botanical Garden, Georgia Aquarium, High Museum, Atlanta Hawks games (in season).
• Dancing/watching dancing (no judgment!): Clermont Lounge, Johnny’s Hideaway, Tattletales.
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