Two major films are being produced in Memphis, with Universityof Memphis students and alumni in front of and behind thecamera.
WALK THE LINE
Walk the Line, a film based on the life of Johnny Cash,and Hustle and Flow, a film about a Memphis rapper trying tosucceed in the industry, have been filming throughout the city thissummer.
The two projects bring revenue and recognition to Memphis, saidSharon Fox O'Guinn, deputy film commissioner of the Memphis andShelby County Film and Television Commission.
O'Guinn said in the case of Walk the Line, the commissiontried to match script locations with local locations and provideeconomic incentives to beat Louisiana, the other main prospectivefilming site.
"It was a battle for several months," O'Guinn said.
The contract was signed in December and filming will continuethrough early September.
The movie is basically free money for the city and localeconomy, O'Guinn said.
"Walk the Line will leave $5 million in goods andservices in the city," she said.
Memphian Nathan Parten, 30, has been working as an extra,playing a stagehand in Walk the Line.
Parten, who graduated from the Memphis College of Art and isapplying to The U of M for his Masters, said he got involved withthe film while working with the Memphis Heritage Council when themovie contacted them trying to find photographs of what streetlamps looked like in 1954.
Someone asked him if he wanted to try out to be an extra, and hehas now spent several 12-hour days on set, Parten said.
"So far, I have been walking around backstage and handing Johnny(Joaquin Phoenix) his guitar while him and June Carter (ReeseWitherspoon) flirt," Parten said.
Parten said that out of every 12-hour day, filming is only about30 minutes, so there is a lot of waiting around, which Parten saidhe passes by joking with the guy playing Jerry Lee Lewis, a singerfrom Nashville.
At first, Parten was paid minimum wage, but his pay has gone upto $8 an hour, and he received $700 for his speaking line -- "niceguitar" to Phoenix. Parten joked that he would be happy to keepcomplimenting things at that rate.
Parten, who has been a tattoo artist for over five years said henoticed that the crew works very hard to keep continuity andaccuracy for the time period, which includes painting over anytattoos the cast may have.
"I would probably do this again if I was interested in theproject," Parten said.
Scenes have been shot at Humes Middle School and the ScottishRite building on Union, and, Parten said, filming would soon beginto shoot scenes from the '60s soon.
HUSTLE AND FLOW
Hustle and Flow's director Craig Brewer, 33, is a U of Malumnus who broke into the film industry with his first film,The Poor and the Hungry, which was filmed in Memphis.
Brewer did much of the location scouting for his new movie,photographing parts of Memphis he felt would best serve the movieand pitched it to executives to get the film made here inMemphis.
The film stars, among others, Terrence Dashon Howard andLudacris.
Hustle and Flow is the first film of a large scale with apredominately black production company, O'Guinn said.
One member of the production company, the extra castingdirector, is U of M alumnus Tray Matthews, 30.
Matthews said he worked with his cousin Christopher Gray, whocast the principles, or speaking parts. Matthews cast the extras,or non-speaking parts, including several people to play strippersfor the background of a scene.
Brewer's vision for the scene was for the strippers to be veryvoluptuous, and the casting call specified that, but many of thewomen who showed up were too small, Matthews said.
"When they came and weren't stacked like Craig wanted them,"Matthews said, they didn't get a second call back. But Matthewstries to be friendly to everyone -- speaking part or not.
"Over the years, people have shown me that you have to becordial, you have to be nice because you never know who you'retalking to or how they might be helpful later," he said.
Matthews has been doing some shooting in New York City for Jay Zand other rising rap stars and has worked for the Girls Gone Wildproductions, several local news stations and John Grisham filmsfilmed in Memphis.
Filming continues after an extra filed charges of sexual assaultby Wayne Witherspoon, who was replaced as second director after thecharges were filed, and actor Anthony Anderson. The two accused areordered to return to court Aug. 19, but production is reportedlygoing on as usual.
Filming for the movie has been at the King of Clubs strip clubon Brooks Road and Crystal Palace skating rink on South ThirdStreet.
O'Guinn said it is her hope that Hustle and Flow will encourageJon Singleton to bring other projects to Memphis.
