Georgia has provided the backdrop for some of Hollywood's biggest films. But while there have been plenty of films made in Georgia, there have been even more about Georgia. In addition, many of Hollywood's most talented and famous silver screen icons were born in the Peach State.
Georgia is an ideal place for film making because of its rich history and diverse settings. Many production facilities and film making crews call the state home, helping to make it a great filming location. Robert Altman, Clint Eastwood, and Spike Lee are just a short list of directors who have chosen Georgia to shoot their films.
While many films set in Georgia were shot elsewhere, the Peach State has substituted for other states, such as North Carolina and Alabama. For example, the movies Cape Fear, Fried Green Tomatoes, and Sweet Home Alabama were all filmed in Georgia, although the stories' settings were other places.
Gone With the Wind, and More
One of the most well-known films about Georgia is 1939's Gone With the Wind, which was filmed entirely in California. Producer David O. Selznick's version of Margaret Mitchell's novel was a box office smash which poignantly depicted the struggles many white southerners and blacks faced during the Civil War. But even at the time of its release, it came under fire for its romantic depiction of plantation life, and the ignorant mentalities it portrayed of black people.
Gone With the Wind set new standards for the publicity and production of films in Hollywood. Selznick made every aspect of the film's production a media event. When public debates spawned over the use of the word "damn" in what became one of pop culture's most iconic movie lines, Selznick made sure the media was present.
Despite critiquing the film's stereotypes, critics loved Gone With the Wind's dramatic, epic feel, which owed much to the precedent-setting technologies used during production. For instance, the film's use of the recently introduced Technicolor process is widely credited for helping to advance color filming technology.
At the Academy Awards, Gone With the Wind set more records. It earned eight Oscars, a new record at the time. Hattie McDaniels, who took home the Best Supporting Actress award for her portrayal of Mammy, became the first African American to win an Oscar. In addition, the film received a Technical Achievement Award for its pioneering use of equipment and an Honorary Award for its use of color to enhance the film's mood.
Among other significant films set but not shot in Georgia are The General (1927) and Daughters of the Dust (1991). Buster Keaton considered The General his favorite movie in which he starred. Based on a true story, the comedy entails a Confederate engineer chasing Union soldiers who have stolen his train and kidnapped the girl he loves. Daughters of the Dust told the story of Gullah women in 1902. Gullah culture maintains traditions brought by African slaves and still lives on in communities on some of Georgia's and South Carolina's barrier islands.
Home Grown
Although Gone With the Wind wasn't filmed in Georgia, many other successful films have been. Deliverance (1972), an adaptation of a James Dickey novel, began as a low budget film that nobody expected to do as well as it did, especially at the Academy Awards. The film's violent show-downs between city slickers and mountain men shocked audiences, and its dialog spawned quotes still popular today. Though it found commercial success, critics blasted its depiction of the modern day protagonists, and the rural people they come into contact with as too stereotypical. Nevertheless, the film has become a classic.
A more recent classic is Driving Miss Daisy (1989). Focusing on the unfolding relationship between an elderly Jewish woman and her African-American chauffeur over 25 years, many critics consider the film a brilliant, heartwarming exploration of race relations in the South. The movie garnered several Oscars, including Best Picture and a Best Actress Award for Jessica Tandy. Morgan Freeman's acclaimed performance and Oscar nomination for the film helped boost his acting career to a higher level.
Other notable films shot at least partly in Georgia include:
Swamp Water (1941)
Wise Blood (1979)
Athens, GA: Inside/Out (1986)
Glory (1989)
Fried Green Tomatoes (1991)
Forrest Gump (1994)
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997)
The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000)
Beauty Shop (2005)
Diary of a Mad Black Woman (2005)
Hollywood Georgians
Burt Reynolds, one of America's most recognizable film and television stars, was born in Georgia in 1936. Reynolds has appeared in over 50 films, such as Smokey and the Bandit, Deliverance, The Cannonball Run, and Boogie Nights. For a five year period (1978-1982), Georgia was the third ranked state in the U.S. for film production. This was largely due to the fact that Burt Reynolds focused on appearing in movies filmed in and about the South.
In 1958, Georgia native Holly Hunter was born. Holly Hunter's penchant for choosing characters and scripts which aren't typical Hollywood fodder has helped her earn a reputation as one of the most interesting actresses of her generation. Her most notable roles include her starring debut with Nicolas Cage in the film Raising Arizona and The Piano, for which she won an Oscar in 1994.
Julia Roberts left Smyrna, Georgia in the mid-1980s to embark on an acting career. She first garnered attention in the 1988 film Mystic Pizza, which also earned her an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Female Lead. Oscar nominations for her roles in Steel Magnolias (1989) and Pretty Woman (1990) catapulted Roberts to Hollywood's A-list. Her success has continued with such films as My Best Friend's Wedding (1997), Notting Hill (1999), Ocean's 11 (2001), and Closer (2004). However, the crowing achievement of her career came in 2001, when she won an Oscar for the title role in the film Erin Brokovich.
While film making in Georgia today doesn't compare to its five-year heyday, it still contributes a significant amount to the state's economy. In 2004, Georgia took in $123.5 million from film and video productions. Tax incentives introduced in 2002 and 2005 may help boost film and television production around the state. Whether or not it ever returns to being one of the hottest film making states, one thing is sure: Georgia has a proud heritage on the silver screen.
Georgian's arts scene has something for everyone.
