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Friday, Mar. 06, 2009

‘Crazies’ remake filming under way in Perry

PERRY — Priester’s Pecans was closed Thursday, according to a sign at the entrance, but you couldn’t tell that from all the cars, trucks and trailers in the parking lot.

The store and restaurant were playing host to the cast and crew of “The Crazies,” the Overture Films remake of a 1973 George Romero movie about a virus that invades a small town and turns the inhabitants insane.

The movie began principal photography Thursday, said Jamie Denenberg, a publicist for Overture Films.

Besides Priester’s, other locations for the movie will be in Perry, Macon, Fort Valley, Montezuma and elsewhere, Denenberg said. Filming in Middle Georgia should last throughout March and into early or mid-April before wrapping up. The cast and crew will then head out to Iowa to finish filming. All of the movie’s scenes will be from location shots.

Local interest in the film is high, she said, judging from the response last month to a call for extras in which hundreds of people of all ages showed up.

“The response was fantastic,” Denenberg said, “and we are excited to be here.”

The movie, scheduled for release either late this year or early 2010, stars Timothy Olyphant, Radha Mitchell, Georgia native Danielle Panabaker and, of course, a goodly number of those hundreds of local extras.

The shooting schedule will vary with the day’s needs, but most likely will begin in the early mornings and last until early evenings.

Denenberg said she flew in Sunday night from Los Angeles, just missing the uncharacteristic snowstorm that blanketed Middle Georgia.

It was hard to tell it ever happened Thursday, as the cast and crew members sat outdoors on the porch in their shirtsleeves, eating lunch under a bright sunny sky.

“Each day it has gotten progressively nicer,” Denenberg said. “The weather has shifted a lot this week.”

Denenberg, a graduate of the University of Michigan, said residents have been accommodating, and she even experienced a bit of local flavor.

“I got some real good barbecued chicken and had my first taste of grits and homemade cornbread,” she said with a smile. “I liked it.”

To contact writer Jake Jacobs, call 923-6199, extension 305.