Movie legend Burt Reynolds scheduled to attend Macon Film Festival

Burt Reynolds, the actor perhaps best known for his roles in “Smokey and the Bandit” and “Deliverance,” is coming to Macon next month.

The Hollywood icon is set to headline a special screening of “Deliverance” at the Douglass Theatre on July 17 as part of the 10th annual Macon Music Festival, which runs July 16-19.

Released in 1972, “Deliverance” is about four city-dwelling friends (Reynolds, Jon Voight, Ned Beatty and Ronny Cox) who decide to get away for a canoeing trip in rural Georgia. When they arrive, they’re not welcomed by the locals, who later attack them in the woods. Soon, the trip turns into a fight for survival.

Reynolds, 79, an Academy Award nominee and Golden Globe winner, will be available for a Q&A after the movie. The special film print secured from Warner Brothers Pictures will screen at 8 p.m.

Another movie, “Sharky’s Machine,” which Reynolds directed, will be shown at 5 p.m. July 19 in the Douglass Theatre.

Reynolds, who was born in Waycross, said in a release that he loves Georgia and that most of his movies have been made in the state. For example, several chase scenes from “Smokey and the Bandit” were filmed near Jonesboro.

Reynolds said he is “very proud that the Macon Film Festival has selected two films that show two very different sides of what I call my lucky state. ... I look forward to sharing these with you this summer.”

Reynolds’ professional acting career began in 1958, and through the years he appeared in dozens of movies and television shows. Among them, Reynolds starred alongside Dolly Parton as Sheriff Ed Earl Dodd in the 1982 musical “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas,” and in “Stroker Ace,” he starred as the title character with his future wife, Loni Anderson. Later in his career, Reynolds brought star power to the TV comedy “Evening Shade.”

Julie Wilkerson, the Macon Film Festival’s president, said screening “Deliverance” with Reynolds at the 10th festival celebrates a Georgia film, brings a celebrity to Macon and pays homage to the first Macon Film Festival, where “Deliverance” also was screened.

“‘Deliverance’ was also the first special screening at the 2006 Macon Film Festival, so showing it this year brings us full circle,” Wilkerson said.

Passes for the festival are available on the festival’s website: www.maconfilmfestival.com. Tickets are $10 for single blocks (Single block tickets do not provide admission to special screenings); $25 for one-day passes; $75 for screening passes, valid all four days; and $150 for all-access passes that include admission to all screenings.

This story was originally published June 24, 2015 at 10:08 AM with the headline "Movie legend Burt Reynolds scheduled to attend Macon Film Festival ."