Now Filming In Charlotte: 'Ashby,' Starring Mickey Rourke, Nat Wolff, Emma Roberts, and Sarah Silverman

It's time to go on the hunt for celebrity sightings again. A new movie, titled Ashby, began filming in Charlotte last week, packing some star power, with Mickey Rourke, Nat Wolff, Emma Roberts, and Sarah Silverman among the cast. Mickey and Sarah are industry veterans, of course (he's in the long-awaited sequel to Sin City, due out in August; she's one of the funniest--and one of my favorite--comedians of the last 15 years; her We Are Miracles HBO stand-up special last year was awesome). And Nat and Emma are two of Hollywood's hottest young actors (he co-stars in The Fault In Our Stars, which opened a couple of weeks ago to rave reviews and a No. 1 gross at the box office ($48 million opening weekend); you probably know Emma from her early days on Nickelodeon and a handful of movie roles she's had since, before co-starring in last year's blockbuster comedy We're the Millers).

Nat Wolff shared this photo Friday from the set of Ashby. Credit: instagram.com/natandalex

Not many details have been published about Ashby, but it's described as a comedy-drama that follows the paths of a high school student (Nat) and a retired CIA assassin (Mickey) who only has months to live. It's being directed by Tony McNamara.

Emma's character, Eloise, looks very wholesome, and even a little Southern, based on the photo she tweeted yesterday.

Hey everyone. Meet Eloise #AshbyMovie pic.twitter.com/3XtJ3ioH04
— Emma Roberts (@RobertsEmma) June 22, 2014

Nat tweeted a photo from the set a few days ago as well, which I believe is from the practice field of a Charlotte high school.

I'm in NC shooting a movie with my hero Mickey Rourke and my friend the fantastic @RobertsEmma. Learning my routes pic.twitter.com/DbHorg8sF1
— Nat & Alex Wolff (@natandalex) June 20, 2014

And as usual for movies and TV shows that film in Charlotte (Homeland will always be in our hearts), Ashby is casting locally for extras. Tona B. Dahlquist Casting is handling the calls for extras, which you can find listed on the company's Facebook page (you'll also find calls for Charlotte extras for Cinemax's TV series Banshee and an MGM family movie called Max).

Ashby is scheduled to film in Charlotte for about five weeks, and will hit movie theaters some time in 2015. You can check for updates on its IMDB page.

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Gastonia (and N.C. BBQ) Featured on HBO's 'Veep'

If you were watching last night's episode of Veep on HBO, then you surely noticed that Gastonia played a large role in the comedy starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus. It was episode 10 of the show (season two, episode two), and Julia's character, Selina Meyer, the first female vice president of the United States, received orders from POTUS to attend a North Carolina pig-pickin' as part of their new Listen to Rural America Program, "U.S. Hey!" The pig-pickin' was in Gastonia.

Around these parts, we love for our cities and towns to get TV time, even if in fictional shows (Showtime's Homeland and Cinemax's Banshee, for example), but I'm not sure how Gastonian's feel about their portrayal in Veep. In one scene, while aboard Air Force Two on her way to Gastonia, the fictional vice president says she doesn't want to get "stuck talking pig sh*t with people who use hay as furniture." You had to laugh at that.

Another portrayal the show embarks on is the long-running, heated debate on North Carolina barbecue, by choosing a pig roast in Gastonia to attend. N.C. BBQ got thrust into the national spotlight when the real First Lady of the United States, Michelle Obama, announced that Charlotte had been awarded the 2012 Democratic National Convention, saying that: "Charlotte is a city marked by its southern charm, warm hospitality, and an "up by the bootstraps" mentality that has propelled the city forward as one of the fastest-growing in the South. Vibrant, diverse, and full of opportunity, the Queen City is home to innovative, hardworking folks with big hearts and open minds. And of course, great barbecue."

I wrote extensively about the DNC for a year, so I saw how often N.C. barbecue was brought into political circles and conversations. Veep does a good job of mimicking things politicians actually do, but with more of a hilarious exaggeration. Like, politicians really do go campaigning at North Carolina barbecue events: read my past DNC blog post, which includes a recap of the annual Mallard Creek Barbecue; and last June I begged national media to stop talking about N.C. BBQ; and even more fitting, in October 2010, a New York Times reporter visited a Pig Pickin’ and Politickin’ rally in Huntersville, hosted by a Republican women’s club.

At a recent Levine Museum of the New South event, the Uptown museum featured an Eastern vs. Western North Carolina barbecue tasting and competition.

We take our barbecue seriously around here. Veep got that much right.

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Casting Company Seeking Extras for Charlotte-Area Based TV Shows: 'Sleepy Hollow' Pilot, 'Banshee' Season 2, 'Homeland' Season 3

It's a great time to be an aspiring actor in Charlotte. The Tona B. Dahlquist Casting Company, which handles local casting for the Showtime hit television series Homeland and the new Cinemax series Banshee, is opening its call for extras for the next seasons of both of those shows as well as a new one: Sleepy Hollow, the TV pilot adaptation of famed short story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" being attempted by FOX. The story is perhaps most known to audiences today from the 1999 box-office hit that starred Johnny Depp.

Producers of Sleepy Hollow (TV), reportedly, have cast Orlando Jones, Katia Winter, and Nicole Beharie in lead roles so far. Locations in Salisbury have been confirmed for filming, potentially as early as next week.

Actress Katia Winter recently starred in season 7 of Dexter on Showtime. Credit: IMDB.com

As for Banshee, a show that I've watched each week since it debuted in January, the season finale airs tonight on Skinemax, I mean Cinemax. Tona B. Dahlquist Casting is seeking submissions for extras for season two. The company has also stated that it will be announcing local casting needs for Homeland season 3 soon.

You can keep up with the latest by visiting the Tona B. Dahlquist Casting Facebook page, as well the Charlotte Regional Film Commission's website, particularly the film news section.

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'Banshee' Premieres Friday on Cinemax, Look for Charlotte

I added Cinemax to my premium cable TV lineup last week, so for the last several days I've seen previews for the network's new series Banshee, which premieres this Friday, January 11 at 10 p.m. The show is described as: "From the creator of True Blood, Banshee stars Antony Starr as Lucas Hood, an ex-con and master thief who assumes the identity of the sheriff of Banshee, Pennsylvania, where he continues his criminal activities, even as he’s hunted by the shadowy gangsters he betrayed years earlier." The series also stars Ivana Milicevic, Ben Cross, Frankie Faison, Ulrich Thomsen, and Lili Simmons.

Sometimes these action-crime dramas become television hits, and sometimes they only last one season. But I'm tuning in each week specifically to see if and when I spot scenes of Charlotte, and hopefully I become a fan of the show in the process. That's one of the things I enjoy about watching Homeland, in addition to it being one of the best shows on TV. Banshee began production in the Charlotte area last spring and, according to its local casting Facebook page, looks like filming continued here throughout the summer. Similar to Homeland where Charlotte plays the role of Washington, D.C., in Banshee the Charlotte area plays the fictional small town of Banshee, Pennsylvania.

In the trailer for Banshee, I spotted the Levine Avenue of the Arts in Uptown at the 1:24 mark. It's a quick snippet of a police shootout scene, and you can see the Mint Museum sign on the right and the historic St. Peter's Catholic Church across the street.

Screenshot.

For more details on Banshee, visit www.cinemax.com/banshee, and also check out the cool Gif Shop.

UPDATE
Small towns in the Charlotte area are more prominently used than the Queen City itself in this season of Banshee. "Five towns make Banshee: Monroe, Mooresville, Lincolnton, Gastonia, and Waxhaw," Banshee directing show runner Greg Yaitanes told The Charlotte Observer. "No one town captured everything that Banshee was, but everything existed in that area, and it allowed us to go to a lot of different places and make that town." Additionally, a local watering hole on Old Statesville Road in north Charlotte is used, and sets for select interiors were built on a sound stage in warehouses along Reames Road in Charlotte.

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