The new Tom Cruise movie "Mena," filming soon in and north of Atlanta, plans an open casting call for extras from noon to 5 p.m. Saturday at Gospel Outreach Church, 835 Mineral Springs Road in Ball Ground.
The movie, set in the 1970s and ’80s in the U.S. and South America, will film in Atlanta and in Ball Ground (in Cherokee County). Casting folks are interested in people of all ages to fit a variety of background roles.
In addition to two-legged extras, they need four-wheeled ones. If your rig dates to that time period and is in good condition, they want to hear from you. See centralcasting.com for more information.
‘Ex Machina’ star headed to Atlanta
Domhnall Gleeson, who plays a brilliant coder who encounters an almost too-brilliant humanoid in the sci-fi thriller "Ex Machina," heads here next for a role in the aforementioned "Mena." We got a moment with him on the phone the other day.
"I'll be very excited to be on set with both of those guys," he said of Cruise and director Doug Liman.
Working on his current project, starring Alicia Vikander as the A.I. creation "Ava," was a thought-provoking experience.
“At the heart of the film is a question of whether Ava has emotions. Inevitably you have to ask what do those things mean for us,” he said. “The film is very clever. I’m not on social media and my email usage is pretty limited but it certainly made me wonder. That metadata stuff is very scary. It can be used in so many different ways, so many of which are scary. The truth is, Google could be doing things in laboratories that we don’t know about.”
Pardon us while we go change all our passwords.
Zach Galifianakis’ surprise stand-up
Zach Galifianakis is in Atlanta filming "Keeping Up With the Joneses," also starring Jon Hamm. The movie, about suburbanites who turn out to be undercover agents, has filmed in Buckhead, Peachtree City and the DuPont Commons subdivision. Up next: downtown.
Hamm has been spotted visiting Buckhead Atlanta, and his co-star is putting his time here to good use, stopping by Laughing Skull Lounge the other night to work out some new material.
Melissa McCarthy movie nears end of Atlanta stint
Melissa McCarthy has been here working on "Michelle Darnell" in Atlanta for several weeks now. Directed by her husband, Ben Falcone, it's filmed at locations including Agnes Scott College, Crescent Avenue in Midtown and the Castleberry Hill and Buckhead Loop areas. We're told she's about done and will head out soon. Both McCarthy and the hubs have worked in Atlanta before. She shot "Identity Thief" with Jason Bateman here, and he appeared in the ensemble comedy "What to Expect When You're Expecting." Don't be strangers, y'all!
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