Ethan Wate is eager to escape his small hometown of Gatlin, S.C.; or at least he was before the “Caster” girl Lena Duchannes moved into town and stole his heart.
The New York Times best-selling novel “Beautiful Creatures” by authors Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl is a story involving two star-crossed lovers. Ethan has been having dreams involving Lena and when she moves into his hometown, he is intrigued by her and hopes to seek out the connection between them. A connection that involves secrets of magic and mystery.
The novel is getting a big-screen adaptation under the guidance and screenplay of Director Richard LeGravenese. The supernatural drama, which is based in a fictional southern city, recently filmed a few scenes in downtown Hammond. Dave Foulton, head of the films media relations, shed some light on how filming locations are picked.
“The key about locations on movies is that it’s a collective decision ultimately decided by the director,” said Foulton. “You look at a lot of different places, what’s going to work for the movie. In particular we’re shooting this [apartment complex] which we transformed into a movie theatre.”
Foulton has worked on other movies such as “The Blind Side,” “Joyful Noise,” “Dolphin Tale” and “October Sky.” The filming for “Beautiful Creatures” was done in front of the Ritz Apartments complex on South Cypress Street. The setup crew made the building look like an old timey theatre, complete with the misspelling of movie titles.
“That’s the magic of movies,” said Foulton. “That’s what they’re looking for when they do scouting on the various locations.”
Hammond fits the small-town feeling that the movie wants to convey and has the captivating culture of the South. The project also did some filming in St. Francisville and New Orleans.
“This is what the movie is about, small towns like Hammond,” said Foulton. “That’s the good thing about Louisiana, there’s a lot of different looks that we were able to capture.”
The film will star Alden Ehrenreich as Ethan and newcomer Alice Englert as Lena. Foulton commented on the two saying that people may not have heard of them much yet, but that “you will be hearing a lot from them, they’re very talented.”  In addition to the leads, there are a few better-known actors that round out the cast.
“We have some young kids that hopefully will attract a young audience,” said Foulton. “But at the same time we also have Emma Thompson, Jeremy Irons and Viola Davis, which I think gives the movie a little more credibility, a little more gravitas. So I think it opens it up to a whole new older, adult demographic.”
Emmy Rossum also stars as Lena’s “Dark Caster” cousin, Ridley Duchannes.
“I think what’s going to be interesting for the young people is that, even if you’re a fan of the book, Richard LeGravenese, our writer-director, has taken those bones and has a few surprises for people,” said Foulton. “Visually I think you’re going to be very, very surprised.”
The film is currently scheduled for a February 2013 release.