Covington
The first film ever shot in Covington was “A Man Called Peter” in 1954. “We’ve been doing it so long,” that the city is known as the Hollywood of the South, said Jenny McDonald, director of tourism and marketing for the Covington/Newton County Convention and Visitors Bureau.
The city is 35 miles east of Atlanta and offers a plethora of historic architecture and picturesque settings, both of which make it popular as a film location.
Today, Covington boasts about 70 production credits, including “Miracles From Heaven,” 2016; “Selma,” 2014; and “Sweet Home Alabama,” starring Reese Witherspoon, 2002. In the 1981 Burt Reynolds film “The Cannonball Run,” a plane lands on the east side of Covington Square, and Dom DeLuise hops out to make a beer run.
However, “where we gain our most film tourism is from [television],” McDonald said. The first five episodes of “The Dukes of Hazzard” were shot in Covington before producers moved it to Los Angeles. The 1990s crime drama “Heat of the Night” was filmed in Covington starting in its second season. Most recently, The CW’s “Vampire Diaries” aired its final episode in March, and except for the pilot, all 171 episodes were shot in Covington, which serves as the show’s fictional town of Mystic Falls, Virginia. Mystic Falls Tours offers guided Vampire Diaries tours, and the town has a detailed self-guided Heat of the Night walking tour. Historic tours, either with CVB-arranged step-on guides or through Covington Ghost Tours, often highlight historic buildings that were used as film locations.
Visitors can also explore the historic Newton County Courthouse on their own or arrange for an informal guided tour of the 1884 building, which was featured in “Selma,” “Dukes,” “Vampire Diaries” and the remake of “Footloose.”
Peachtree City
Peachtree City was an early adopter of film tourism in Georgia. The Peachtree City Convention and Visitors Bureau developed the Southern Hollywood Film Tour several years ago, but Sherri Smith Brown, who was on the CVB board and has production experience and “has always been involved with [the tour],” took it over a couple of months ago. Brown is revamping and ramping up to expand her new venture’s offerings.
Tours highlight filming locations for the Lifetime series “Drop Dead Diva,” which was filmed in Peachtree for five years, and AMC’s wildly popular “The Walking Dead” is filmed “right next door to Peachtree City in Senoia,” she said. Tours include stops at the Alexandria Safe Zone and the Woodbury Shoppe, a store that sells official AMC souvenirs, clothing and accessories for the show.
Other tour stops include the amphitheater where scenes were filmed for “Joyful Noise,” starring Queen Latifah and Dolly Parton, as well as locations for “Sweet Home Alabama,” “Driving Miss Daisy,” “The Fighting Temptations” and “The War,” with Kevin Costner.
At the Dixie Wing Museum in Peachtree City, visitors can see planes that have been used in films, such as the DC3 used in “42,” the 2013 film about Jackie Robinson that stars Chadwick Boseman and Harrison Ford. The museum also houses two replica Japanese aircraft built for the movie “Tora, Tora, Tora!”
Although neither studio offers tours, Brown will take groups to the gates of Raleigh Studios, formerly Riverwood Studios, in Senoia or to Pinewood Studios in Fayetteville, where they can dine at Hanna Brothers Studio Café across the street. Brown will customize tours, which can include meals, and will act as or arrange for step-on guides for motorcoaches.
Atlanta
Atlanta is Georgia’s capital, but it’s also the location of The Capitol in the Hunger Games movie franchise. In the past 10 years, Atlanta has played both host and setting for some 150 films and television shows, according to the Georgia Department of Economic Development, and for more than 1,200 movies and television shows since 1972, according to Atlanta Movie Tours.
Carrie Burns founded the company in 2012, and it now offers nearly a dozen guided tours as well as custom and group tours. The Best of Atlanta tour is a popular option because it highlights the best of some of those 1,200 locations, including the bar from “Triple 9” where Woody Harrelson and Norman Reedus hung out, the funeral scene set from “Fast and the Furious” and the African market from “Captain America: Civil War.”
The three-hour Atlanta Heritage Tour covers the city’s starring roles in real life and in films. The tour covers civil rights landmarks, Martin Luther King Jr.’s Eternal Flame and the Sweet Auburn Historic District, all while featuring Donald Glover’s FX show “Atlanta,” Tyler Perry’s “Madea” house, “Ride Along” and “Selma.”
Four zombie tours, including a walking tour, showcase locations from seven seasons of AMC’s “The Walking Dead.” The Swan House at the Atlanta History Center served at President Snow’s mansion in the “Hunger Games: Catching Fire.” Groups can explore the 1928 mansion though an open-house format with first-person, costumed interpreters or opt for the Capitol Tour experience, which includes a guided tour of areas used during filming and exclusive access to a behind-the-scenes exhibit with production photos and props from the film.
