Gilmer County’s apple orchards and farm markets are still experiencing healthy business as fall rolls along, but one of them recently had some different types of visitors than usual.
At B.J. Reece Orchards, a film crew shot footage earlier this month that may appear in an upcoming motion picture.
A one-day shoot was conducted for The Connor Project, a movie adaptation of the Tony and Grammy award-winning stage musical Dear Evan Hansen.
“I had customers come in who knew they were here, so there was some information online,” noted orchard owner John Reece.
According to EmpireOnline.com, the film will feature actor Ben Platt in the lead role of Evan Hansen, a high school student who writes letters to himself to cope with anxiety. Platt also played the same part in the hit musical production, which enjoyed multiple runs on Broadway from 2016 to this year.
Others who’ve been cast in the movie include Julianne Moore, Amy Adams, Amandla Stenberg, Danny Pino, Colton Ryan and Nik Dodani, according to internet reports.
Reece said he doesn’t know if any of those actors and actresses were on hand during the recent local shoot, which took place at the spacious and scenic orchard on Highway 52 East.
“I think they said they shot three scenes in the orchard and (one) scene would be going away from the orchard like a drone lifting up in the air. They shot on top of the hill. We’ve got an old truck up there and they shot on it. A guy came down here and got some stuff for the actors, but we were so busy I didn’t have time to find out who they were,” Reece said.
This isn’t the first time a film crew has utilized the natural beauty provided by the county’s apple orchards.
Although a location shoot did not take place on his property, Alan Aaron, of Aaron’s Apple House, also on Highway 52, said apple trees from his orchard were cut down and used in the 2015 movie The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2.
“In the wedding portion (of that movie), those trees you see there are trees from Gilmer County,” Aaron said.
The scenes were actually shot at the Atlanta Civic Center, he noted.
“They let me come down to the set and take pictures, which was really cool. They took and glued silk leaves on the trees to make them look alive and made these little dollies they sat on. They would roll them around and set them up in the spots. It was pretty wild getting to see that because I always have enjoyed being able to see how things are done,” Aaron said. “My contact said they filmed one night and tore (the set) down the next day.”
Aaron said his orchard was also scouted for The Connor Project, but there wasn’t any shooting done there.
A release date hasn’t been announced for the film, which has been in pre-production for the last couple of years.
Shooting only began recently in and around Atlanta, according to internet reports.