5 Georgia Locations That Starred On The Silver Screen

WABE

June 6th, 2016

Georgia has been a hub of filmmaking, especially in recent years, thanks to an attractive tax credit that brings crew and filmmakers into the state. Financial benefits in addition to a variety of beautiful landscapes and scenery make Georgia the perfect place for many projects to take form.

“We have a diverse state as far as locations go, so we can stand in for just about any location in the world,” Craig Dominey, senior film location specialist at the Georgia Film Board said, “which is important with all this production we have going on here.”

Of course, movies don’t always take place in Atlanta, so the film office has the challenge of scouting locations that can sit in for not only other locations around the world, but other time periods or even planets as well.

“If you think about how diverse the state is between the beaches and the mountains and the rural countryside, big city, small town, we’ve got it all,” Dominey said.

While the most common requests are for rail lines, mountains and small towns, “we get asked for just about everything,” Dominey said.

Here are some of the more memorable locations the Georgia film office has scouted for movies and television:

Swan House – This historic mansion in Atlanta once belonged to the Inman family but now is property of the Atlanta History Center and can be toured. According to the Atlanta History Center, numerous locations on the Swan House grounds have been featured in “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” as well as the Mockingjay films. In the films, the mansion belonged to President Snow, and announcements and banquets were held on the grounds of Swan House. Nowadays, visitors can take a “Hunger Games” tour of Swan House that showcases how the mansion was utilized for the filming of the movies.

Senoia, Georgia – “The Walking Dead” is no stranger to Atlanta. In fact, the tank scene in the very first episode was filmed just a couple blocks from Centennial Olympic Park, but the town of Senoia is now known as “Ground Central” for “The Walking Dead,” according to the film office. Much of season two was filmed at a nearby farm, and the town itself stood in for the town of Woodbury from season three onward. Now, the city attracts a multitude of tourists and has been given a major economic boom as the result of the show.

Porsche Driving Experience – Almost immediately after the building was opened, Marvel Studios began filming the movie “Captain America: Civil War” at Porsche Driving Experience in Atlanta. The team believed that the modern, sleek look of the site would be perfect for the headquarters of the Avengers, according to the Georgia Film Office.

Covington, Georgia – According to the Georgia Film Office, the city of Covington, Georgia, has been behind cameras as far back as the original “Dukes of Hazzard” TV show. Most notably in recent times is the show “The Vampire Diaries,” which uses the city as the fictional city of Mystic Falls. Similarly to how the relationship between Senoia and “The Walking Dead,” the city has adapted to its television fame and built a gift shop in the square and a local restaurant based on a similar location in “The Vampire Diaries.”

Savannah, Georgia – “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil” was filmed in the city of Savannah, Georgia, where the events of the original book took place. The film includes many real-life locations and adaptations of real-life people whose graves can still be visited at Savannah’s Bonaventure cemetery. Although the “Bird Girl” statue can no longer be seen at the cemetery, it can be visited at a nearby museum.