ON LOCATION: New Filming Locations, Casting Calls, and Fan Encounters for Channing Tatum’s ‘Dear John’
December 6, 2008 · Print This Article | Email This Article
In the graphic on this post, you can see all of the books written by best-selling author Nicholas Sparks that have been or will be turned into a movie, and as most fans know, Channing Tatum is starring in and currently filming the lastest film, ‘Dear John‘.
In the reader poll I recently posted on this site, you all overwhelmingly voted for ‘Dear John‘ as the film you’re most excited to see in 2009.
So you’ll be glad to know that a ton of news came out of the ‘Dear John‘ camp this week from the Charleston City Paper, The Post and Courier, the Charleston Air Force Base, and various other local news outlets. I have recapped the info below. Enjoy!!!
‘DEAR JOHN’ FILMS ON SULLIVAN’S ISLAND AGAIN NEXT WEEK
The Post and Courier mentioned on Friday that the production crews could be dumping four truck loads of dirt on Poe Avenue and make other changes to the areas around Fort Moultrie on Sullivan’s Island starting this weekend.
The three inches of sand and dirt mix would help transform the area into an African outpost for the film crew’s second visit to the barrier island. According to the film’s permit application, the crew also plans to bring in containers to hide Fort Moultrie’s cannons and remove some posts and street signs.
The paper says that they will be filming a short scene in which a caravan of Humvees rolls down the dirt road and a helicopter lands. Then, Channing Tatum’s character, John Tyree, will read one of Savannah’s letters.
Production crews planned to begin dressing the fort last Thursday and filming is expected to take place this Monday. The scene could involve as many as 80 background actors. (Read below to get info on another extras casting call for this shoot.)
‘Dear John‘ began filming in locations around the Charleston, South Carolina area on October 13th and is scheduled for completion on December 16th.
‘DEAR JOHN’ FILMS AIR DROP AT CHARLESTON AIR FORCE BASE
If you’ve read Nicholas Sparks’ best selling book Dear John, then you know that Channing Tatum’s character John gets letters from his girlfriend, Savannah, while he is stationed overseas. The letters are delivered via what’s called “mail drops”, and based on a recent article on the Charleston Air Force Base’s website, the production filmed some of these drops recently.
Below you can click on the photos I found on the site that were taken by Senior Airman Timothy Taylor during the filming of the air drops on November 26th:
Richard Davidson films Staff Sgt. Steven Gore operating a C-17’s rear door while in flight over Charleston AFB’s North Auxiliary Field Nov. 26. The crew filmed several scenes for the movie in flight, on the flight line and in a Charleston AFB hangar. Mr. Davidson is a contracted cameraman for the upcoming film “Dear John” and Sergeant Gore is a loadmaster with the 16th Airlift Squadron.
Staff Sgt. Steven Gore prepares to deploy a dummy package from a C-17 over Charleston AFB’s North Auxiliary Field while a contracted camera crew films for the upcoming movie “Dear John” films the action.
Richard Davidson operates the camera while Geoffrey Herbert deflects unwanted sunlight from the camera’s lens during the filming of a live airdrop at Charleston AFB’s North Auxiliary Field Nov. 26.Mr. Richard and Mr. Herbert are contracted cameramen from the upcoming movie “Dear John.”
Staff Sgt. Steven Gore waits on the pilot’s cue for when the C-17 is over the drop zone at Charleston AFB’s North Auxiliary Field while a contracted camera crew films for the upcoming movie “Dear John”.
‘DEAR JOHN’ & THE IMPENDING ACTOR’S STRIKE
I was recently asked if the possible actor’s strike would affect the ‘Dear John‘ production. The Charleston City Paper interviewed ‘Dear John‘ unit publicist Scott Levine, and the good news is that the production would not be affected. The reason is because the film is currently scheduled to wrap on December 16th, well before the Screen Actors Guild (aka SAG) will hold the vote needed to force a work stoppage that could start some time in January 2009.
NEW ‘DEAR JOHN’ CASTING CALL AND FAN ENCOUNTER
If you want a chance to be in a film with Channing Tatum, then your in luck. As I mentioned above, ‘Dear John‘ will be filming in the Charleston area through December 16th, and I just learned that they are still looking for extras.
Lucky Channing Tatum fan Karen Q., a recent extra on the film, had this to say about working with Chan this past week…
“It was great meeting Channing on the set of Dear John today. I was a military extra for some of the filming and just wanted to say how impressed I was with Channing’s professionalism and how genuine he is with the people he works with. It was great to meet an actor with such great character.”
The production still needs male extras to be a part of scenes filmed December 8-10, 2008, in Harleyville, South Carolina. The casting director is looking for men of all ages who are of Middle Eastern, native African, Indian and similar descents.
If you’re interested, please send a photo and contact information, as soon as possible, to dearjohncasting@gmail.com.
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE FILM FROM ‘DEAR JOHN’S SCREENWRITER
The Post and Courier also recently interviewed Jamie Linden, the screen writer for ‘Dear John‘, and below you can learn more about how she has tried to broaden the appeal of the story by writing a script that both women and their boyfriends will want to see when the movie is released next year. Enjoy!!!
‘Dear John’ Screenwriter Extends Nicholas Sparks’ Appeal
By Bill Thompson (Contact)
The Post and Courier
Thursday, December 4, 2008
With conspicuous exceptions, 29-year-old men generally are not the target audience of a book by Nicholas Sparks, nor of a film based on his ardently romantic work.
True to form, screenwriter Jamie Linden had to sidestep some reservations when asked to pen the script for the adaptation of “Dear John.”
“I was initially hesitant, since these aren’t the movies I tend to go see,” says Linden, whose first produced screenplay was for “We Are Marshall” (2006). “My preconceived notion about what Nicholas Sparks books and films are — not my type of movie, I thought — was turned around when I realized here was a chance to make something that can appeal to a wider audience, and guys wouldn’t be embarrassed about seeing it or liking it.”
Grit and range were two of the selling points of the contemporary romantic drama, now into its seventh week of principal photography under the direction of Lasse Hallstrom.
“It’s a tougher piece than other stuff he’s done, with a broader scope than usual. Typically, the stories just center on the Carolinas. But there are scenes in ‘Dear John’ that take place in Afghanistan, in Africa, in Eastern Europe. There’s more of an epic, timeless feel to it. It’s not a political movie about the Iraq war or about what’s going on in the Middle East. The plot could be lifted out and reset in World War II or Vietnam.”
Linden says Sparks taps into something that works, that readers and audiences find compelling.
“For me, it was about taking what he taps into and trying to broaden it. And it’s already in the book. The movie can appeal not only to my parents, but to someone like me, a young guy who’s lived through 9/11 and knows people who have to leave their girlfriends and go overseas. And people like me who have father issues or child issues. There’s that father-son dynamic about ‘Dear John’ that makes it two love stories in one. It’s not just the romance.”
Line producer Jeremiah Samuels (”House of Sand and Fog”) takes an appreciation of Sparks’ skill a step further.
“I think that Mr. Sparks is an amazing writer. And the reason I say this is because he is able to capture the essence of emotion that large numbers of people can relate to. There is a thread of his work that touches people. When I walk down the street in Charleston and people ask what kind of movie I’m doing, I say it’s from a Nicholas Sparks book. And that’s really a calling card for many people. He has the ability to distill that feeling people have about love.”
As to Sparks’ literary heft, Samuels makes a valid point.
“Sometimes, very dense, complicated works of literature do not make the best movies, while really beautiful, simple stories with clearly understood characters do. As a producer, I’m just looking for a great story. It can come from an original source or an historical incident, from a book or from somebody’s imagination.”
A deciding factor for Linden was that “Dear John” also focuses on a young soldier coming to terms with who his dad really is.
“The father-son relationship kept sticking with me,” he says. “That and the quiet dignity exemplified by (leading man) Channing Tatum’s character, a trait that often gets overlooked in military movies these days because they’re all so political.”
After first passing on the opportunity to write the screenplay, Linden changed his mind.
“The themes of it kept lingering in my mind though my brain was also fighting the fact that I would not normally be drawn to a project like this. Whenever you can’t get something out of your head, it just simmers. When you keep going back to it, you have to listen. I realized I could bring another voice, something additional, to the script.”
“We Are Marshall,” which chronicled the horrific 1970 plane crash that claimed the lives of 75 members of Marshall University’s football team and coaching staff, afforded Linden an unusually dramatic, real-world canvas. He relished it.
“When I pitched it to them the first time, I said this is literally one of those stories where we do not have to change a thing. In Hollywood, they fictionalize something at the drop of a hat. And to fictionalize that story would have been a disservice because everything already was there. Such an amazing story. I kept finding deeper and deeper layers.”
The only real changes made in “We Are Marshall” were unavoidable: telescoping events to fit the constraints of the film’s length and creating some composite characters.
“There was just too much good stuff, which is rare. Even many good movies create drama where it didn’t exist. With ‘We Are Marshall’ there was so much drama that we had to scale back.
“The difference between writing that script and writing the one for ‘Dear John’ is a matter of exercising a different set of muscles and, with ‘Dear John,’ walking a fine line. But it’s the same process, true or fictional.”
Linden thinks “Dear John” will replicate some of the same resonance as “The Notebook,” a movie in the Sparks canon he considers a success.
“It’s about restraint rather than the large orchestral aspect. You can trust the moments that are naturally there, moments the actors can bring out without having to manufacture something superficial.”
Scheduled DVD release date for Channing Tatum's '
Omg is ‘The Lucky One’ going to be made into a movie?!
According to Variety, Warner Brothers has purchased the rights to “The Lucky One,” so at some point it should be made into a movie.
- Q
“Dear John” is one of my favorite novels by Sparks. I can’t wait to see the movie.
When I read Dear John, I went through a box of tissue. I better have two ready for the movie. As reading it, I imagined someone like Channing Tatum playing the part of John … But then again, I imagined me as Savannah