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LISBON --A Hollywood production crew filming a movie in the Mahoning Valley is looking for possible filming locations in Columbiana County.
Lisbon Mayor Joseph Morenz confirmed Thursday he was contacted by Fred D'Amico from the Youngstown Regional Film Commission about possible locations for the movie, "Them That Follow," described as a drama "set in the wilds of Appalachia, where a Pentecostal pastor, Lemuel Childs, and his believers handle venomous snakes to prove themselves before God," according to the website Deadline Hollywood. The story is about Childs' conflicted daughter, played by Alice Englert, who wants to break away.
Childs is to be played by Walton Goggins, who has appeared in recent years in Quentin Tarantino's "The Hateful Eight" and "Django Unchained" and Steven Spielberg's "Lincoln." Goggins is currently in the HBO series "Vice Principals."
D'Amico said they have already filmed some in the Youngstown area and are now looking around Lisbon and East Palestine for rural homes and country churches to film.
"We are trying to scout Ohio and West Virginia and we were very successful in the Lisbon area," he said.
According to the commission's Facebook page, the director and production team were in the area the first week of September looking for locations. D'Amico said they will return Monday to decide on what locations they want to use.
"Who is coming into our area is nothing short of Hollywood itself," he said, noting actor Gerard Butler's production company G-Base is one of the co-producers, along with Amasia Entertainment. Butler starred in such movies as "300" and "Olympus Has Fallen."
Principal filming in the area is currently scheduled to begin by early October and continue until Thanksgiving. The movie has a 2018 release date.
While scouting for locations, D'Amico found himself on property outside of town owned by Advance Tactical Group Worldwide, the business begun by three Navy SEAL brothers from Lisbon. He said ATG representatives showed him some possible sites and they may use them to provide security during filming.
Morenz is excited about the prospects of filming a movie in Lisbon and the area, and he understands they already looked at 15 to 20 locations. "A lot of people around town already know about this," he said.
D'Amico said they will be looking for extras, and anyone interested can send their photograph and resume to the Youngstown Regional Film Commission's Facebook page, youngstownfilmindustry@gmail.com or filmyoungstown.com.
To finance the movie, Youngstown City Council agreed to lend up to $2 million to the production companies. Mill Creek Park is to serve as one of the primary locations, and the company plans to hire 221 Ohio residents, which includes production office and crew, acting talent, extras and post-production staff.