Macon, Georgia is no stranger to big budget films. The city has been home to some pretty big productions for Hollywood, from films like The Fifth Wave (2016), 42 (2011), Need for Speed (2011) to I, Tonya (2017), just to name a few. However, production crews and workers have spent the last few days in downtown Macon transforming storefronts to look like those of Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Priscilla Esser with the Macon Film Commission says the project they have been working on is filming under the name 'Brooklyn', which we all know is the working title for HBO's upcoming Watchmen series. Esser says that the production company’s goal is to transform Macon into a town called 'Greenwood'. In order to do that, production crews have been working long hours changing storefronts and adding a few Oklahoma touches, including payphones, however there aren't many other things that represent the 1920s era. In fact, a lot of the set looks lik eit belongs in a more contemporary setting.
Esser then goes on to describe how Macon is the perfect fit for HBO's highly-anticipated project:
“We have such a rich architectural history here that it can lend itself to be just about anything, so being in the parameter and so close to everything going on in Atlanta was highly attractive for them.”
She continues by saying if the pilot is successful, crews would be back to shoot the full season.
“Fingers crossed that happens because we’ve seen it with Vampire Diaries and Walking Dead. If we landed something like that, it sure would be fantastic,” said Esser.
Details as far as the show’s plot and direction are being kept under wraps for now. However, in his original mission statement when boarding the project, Executive Producer Damon Lindelof said his adaption is not a sequel, but rather a "remix" of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' original comics. Filming in Macon is expected to continue through the rest of the week, but thanks to a user from Birth.Movies.Death, we have an early look at some of the set, along with a few additional other set photos from HollywoodPipeline.com. Check out the photos below:
Here we have a clothing store titled 'Millenium', a storefront that looks to be called 'Milk & Hanoi Bakery' and what I'm guessing is a toy or comic book store named 'Treasure Island'.
This looks to be some sort of bar or pub by the name of 'Pale Horse'. Not much is known about this location but there reportedly was filming both inside and outside.
This is a look at one of the taxicabs that will be driving down the main streets of the Tulsa set. As you can see from the color scheme, the traditional Yellow Cab design has been replaced by something a bit more patriotic in HBO
's
Watchmen universe.
Here we have a bus stop with an advertisement for a TV series called
American Hero Story: Minutemen, which is definitely a play off of Ryan Murphy's long-running
American Horror Story series on FX. To the right we have a sign for the 'Tulsa Transit Authority' bus route. It's amazing the attention-to-detail that went into these sets -- much credit to HBO and their production designers.
This is the first of a few pictures of actress
Regina King in (what's assumed to be) the lead role of Angela Abraham, courtesy of
HollywoodPipeline.com. Her character is described in the casting call as an "
African-American female cop. Independent and intelligent, she's also a realist. She's married to Cal, with whom she has a daughter and is fiercely protective of them both."
Another close-up shot of King. I wonder what that pink/orange thing is she is holding in these photos?
Next on the list, we have our first look at Don Johnson in the male lead role filming a night scene with some other actors dressed as policemen. Going by the casting call released awhile back, it can be assumed that
Johnson is taking on the role of Looking Glass, who is described as "
a good looking cop, the native Oklahoman isn't simple as his rural accent makes him appear to be. A top interrogator and behavioral scientist, he may also be a bit of a sociopath."
We have yet to get a first-look at actors Tim Blake Nelson (
The Incredible Hulk), Adelaide Clemens (
X-Men Origins: Wolverine), Lou Gossett, Jr. (
An Officer and a Gentleman) or Andrew Howard (
Bates Motel). Variety reported two weeks ago that Gossett, Jr. will portray a retired former policeman named Old Man. Howard has been cast as a policeman named Red Scare, who supposedly wears a tracksuit and speaks with a heavy Russian or Eastern European accent. Clemons is believed to be playing an androgynous police officer named Pirate Jenny. It should be noted however, that these names are from a casting call, so it could turn out that they are just a cover for the actual character names in the show. HBO has tapped Nicole Kassell (
The Leftovers) to direct the pilot episode, but don't getour hopes up, as the pilot isn't even expected until at least 2019.
So, what does everyone think... Any theories? What exactly are Lindelof and HBO going for here?
As always, lets us know your thoughts in the comments below!
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