Atlanta’s booming filming community is in full throttle this spring.
Numerous projects including a television movie called “Game of Silence” and the second season of AMC’s “Halt and Catch Fire” are shooting around town. More projects including the latest in the “Captain America” series and a comedy, “Keeping Up With the Joneses,” are on the way. Some of the stars in town for work have taken time out to pop by local screenings recently.
Melissa McCarthy is here starring in "Michelle Darnell," which her husband, Ben Falcone, is directing. It's been filming in the Castleberry Hill area. She delighted Atlanta fans at an advance screening of her upcoming movie, "Spy," on Monday night. It's out June 5.
Both she and Falcone have spent time in Atlanta before. He was in “What to Expect When You’re Expecting” and she was in “Identity Thief,” both of which filmed here.
James Franco is in Atlanta directing and starring in "In Dubious Battle," with Selena Gomez, Bryan Cranston, Ed Harris, Ashley Greene and Robert Duvall. It's been filming way OTP in the little town of Bostwick, south of Athens.
He stopped by the Rialto Center for the Arts during the Atlanta Film Festival last week for a screening of his indie, “The Heyday of the Insensitive Bastards.” We got a moment with him on the red carpet.
“It’s going well,” he said of his current filming project. “I love it here.”
And rapper-actor Ludacris surprised fans at a recent advance screening of "Fast & Furious 7,″ in theaters Friday, at Regal Atlantic Station. Actually they're just calling this one "Furious 7," perhaps with hashtags in mind.
The movie filmed largely in the Atlanta area, and Ludacris reprised his role as computer genius Tej Parker in the septequel (is that a word?).
He didn't take questions from the media at the Atlanta screening, but shared thoughts during a visit to Ellen DeGeneres' talk show. Newly married with a new baby on the way, he is celebrating a new album, "Ludaversal," in addition to the movie.
“Movie dropping, album dropping and baby dropping,” he quipped. “We’re good!”
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