The Underground Railroad City Hall / Photo By Andy Young  

It’s no secret, Savannah is a sought-after superstar – the sweetheart of page and stage, culture and composition, and perhaps most prolifically, television, film, and entertainment. 

Peanut Butter Falcon Camera Boat 1 / Photo By Andy Young

The world well knows of Savannah’s filmable nature through flagship flicks “Forest Gump” and “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil,” flanked by box-office besties like “The Longest Yard,” “Bagger Vance,” and the highest-grossing independent film of 2019, Shia LaBeouf’s “The Peanut Butter Falcon.” (Photo 5).

That same year, Disney’s musical version of “Lady and the Tramp” released, filmed entirely in Savannah, according to Executive Producer Diane Sabatini, because of the “incredible neighborhoods seemingly untouched from the turn of the century.” 

After a roaring recovery from COVID shutdowns and now surviving a five-month strike, filming in the city and surrounding state-wide sites is shaking loose with new productions – recent, released, and underway – destined to leave viewers challenged, inspired, and more in love with the stunning southern sensibilities of this windswept Coastal Empire. 

RECENTLY RELEASED

Origin 

Filmmaker Ava DuVernay‘s Origin made history as the first movie by a black female director from the U.S. in the Venice Film Festival’s 80-year run. This long overdue accolade was celebrated with a nine-minute standing ovation at its world premiere. The film is based on the life of Pulitzer Prize winner Isabel Wilkerson, covering her penning of her seminal work, “Caste: The Origin of Our Discontents.” 

The Underground Railroad / Photo By Andy Young

Underground Railroad
Having filmed in Savannah for five years, the television adaptation of the celebrated Colson Whitehead book with the same name released earlier this year and has been raking in the critical acclaim. The 10-part series by three-time academy award winning director Berry Jenkins is currently streaming its heroic human tale around the world via Prime Video on Amazon Prime.   

COMING SOON 

The Color Purple – The Musical 

One of the most celebrated, powerful, and iconic southern stories is coming back to theaters with a song in its purple heart. “A bold new take on a beloved classic,” is as gripping in its filmmaking as in the captivating “recognizability” of the southern coast. Scenic cinematic moments are held in the long limbs of live oaks along the shores of Jekyll Island’s Driftwood Beach, panning inland to Atlanta, Macon, and downtown Savannah’s U.S. Customhouse at Bay and Bull Streets. In theaters Christmas Day.   

May December 

Dropping in U.S. theaters on November 17th and available on Netflix (U.S.) December 1st is the new Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore film that the Times has called “An intensely compelling film about Hollywood vanity, interpersonal sadism and the human capacity for self-deception.” Directed by Todd Haynes, this fictionalized look at the real-life case of Mary Kay Letourneau was shot entirely in Savannah last Fall.

NOW FILMING

The Fabulous Four 

This indie feel-good comedy starring Bette Midler, Susan Sarandon, Sheryl Lee Ralph, and Megan Mullally follows “three life-long friends who travel to Key West, Florida, to be bridesmaids in the surprise wedding of their college girlfriend.” Extras casting notices for party goers, airline passengers, and male strippers, gives a pretty clear rundown of the storyboard.  

Juror No. 2 

Clint Eastwood’s self-proclaimed “final film” as a director began filming earlier this year in Savannah. Written by Jonathan Abrams, and starring Nicholas Hoult, Kiefer Sutherland, and Toni Collette, this true-crime, thriller explores the moral dilemma of an everyman juror who finds himself at the center of a high-profile murder trial wherein he realizes he may be at fault for the victim’s death, along with a string of “what’s working and what isn’t” inner-city social issues.

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