Christmas movie filming went so well in LaGrange that another is planned

Published 9:00 am Saturday, October 8, 2022

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Over the last few weeks, Hollywood came to town with the production of “A Perfect Christmas Paring” filming at Nutwood Winery and other downtown LaGrange locations. On Tuesday filming of the movie officially wrapped up.

Now, it sounds like LaGrange could potentially have a role in at least one more movie.

Creative producer Dave Hickey said he and his team look to do more work in LaGrange and are currently scouting locations in LaGrange for a potential thriller.

Hickey said the experience filming in Troup County was amazing.

“It was a lot easier here than in Atlanta, Hickey said. “Everybody was super helpful from city officials to business owners to getting people that wanted to be in it. It was a really great experience, which is why we want to stay and keep making more.”

While the filming was a success, the company ran into issues with housing the talent and production team.

According to Hickey, the company usually puts the stars of the movie in a hotel.

The production team had to be split up. The talent, director and one of the producers were put in Home2 Suites by Hilton. Some of the other crew members were housed in cabins from Highland Pines Resort and Marina, he said.

Despite the troubles with housing, the team is allegedly prepping to begin filming a new movie Monday in LaGrange.

“Because filming went so well and everybody was so supportive to us, we really want to give back,” Hickey said. “We help inject a little bit of money into the local economy with these movies by renting hotels, cabins, Air B&Bs, going to local restaurants and stores — so LaGrange is a really beautiful place and all the people are so nice.”

With the potential new film in the works, Hickey said finding housing and local crew members would be helpful.

“I met with LaGrange College’s Yson DeBlois to try to gain a few local crew members,” Hickey said. “We’re going to try to use either students or recent graduates that are hopefully either still in the area or could work as locals.”

Like the holiday movie, Hickey said they will be looking for extras. However, unlike the Google Form used for the last film there will be an email for interested parties to use to be an extra.

“In Christmas films, you always need more people but with this one, we’re only going to need a handful of people here and there,” Hickey said. “In this production, we’re hoping to use some actual police officers.”

Hickey said he spoke with Chief Lou Dekmar of the LaGrange Police Department about getting use of real police cars and off-duty officers to appear in the upcoming project.

“Dekmar said they’ll try to work with us to get us real police cars in the project,” Hickey said.

Dekmar said the LPD is currently coordinating with Hickey to use some LPD cars as props in the upcoming project.

At the time of printing, most details about the second project are unknown.

“A Perfect Christmas Pairing” is a made-for-TV movie expected to air in 26 countries, but a U.S. channel hasn’t been named.

“We had such a positive amazing experience with everybody,” Hickey said. “We felt definitely welcome here — more so than in other cities. We really love this place and don’t want to go.”