For Immediate Release: August 8, 2005
Contact: Mary Nelson - mnelson@virginia.org
800.854.6233 or 804.371.8204
Virginia Film and Television Projects in the News
RICHMOND, VA: During the summer and fall of 2005 several high-profile film and television projects
having close ties to Virginia have been making news, the Virginia Film Office announced. They are
Stephen Spielberg’s epic film War of the Worlds; the CBS television series Commander in Chief; a
psychological thriller Cry Wolf; Terrance Malick’s epic film about Jamestown The New World and a
film by a new Virginia screenwriter and Governor’ Screenwriting Competition winner. Virginia Film
Office Director Rita McClenny stated: “Virginia is poised to become a real force in the entertainment
industry. Film and video production is a growth industry and there has been a lot of interest lately in the
exceptional assets the Commonwealth has to offer”
The Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise feature film War of the Worlds opened on the Fourth of July
weekend, having filmed several scenes in the countryside around Lexington. The film has been a box
office blockbuster, having taken in more than $200 million during its first month in theatres. Virginia is
featured in rural scenes during which refugees flee from the invaders and military units with tanks
prepare to confront the alien threat. This is the second time that the Spielberg/Cruise team has come to
Virginia to film. In 2001 they were in the Gloucester area to shoot scenes for the feature film Minority
Report.
The CBS television drama Commander in Chief features Geena Davis as the first woman president who
must balance the demands of one of the most challenging jobs in the world with the challenges of raising
three children in the White House. The show will premiere on September 23 with an episode shot in
Richmond and is currently scheduled to be shown on Tuesday nights at 9:00. This is the fourth time that
series creator and director Rod Lurie has filmed in Richmond. His other projects included the feature
film The Contender, and the ABC mini-series Line of Fire, also for ABC.
Virginia native Jeff Wadlow’s first feature film Cry Wolf was shot in Richmond in 2003 under the title
Living the Lie. As a winner of the Chrysler Million Dollar Movie Competition, Wadlow was awarded $1
million to shoot his film. Wadlow grew up in Charlottesville, and choose to shoot his film in his home
state, using the University of Richmond as one of the primary locations. Cry Wolf, loosely based on the
fable The Boy Who Cried Wolf, is a psychological thriller about the deadly consequences of keeping
secrets and telling lies. The film will open in theatres on September 23.
November 9 is the premiere date of the much-anticipated Terrance Malick film The New World, a
sweeping adventure set during the first encounter of European and Native American cultures at founding
of the Jamestown, Virginia settlement in 1607. Working with production designer Jack Fisk, a Virginia
resident, Malick brings to life his own unique interpretation of the classic tale of Pocahontas and her
relationships with adventurer John Smith and aristocrat John Rolfe. Filmed on location a few miles
from the site of the original events, the movie was created with an eye for historical accuracy and detail
and stars Colin Farrell as John Smith, Christian Bale as John Rolfe, Christopher Plummer as Christopher
Newport and newcomer Q’orianka Kilcher as Pocahontas. The timing of the film is particularly
fortuitous for Virginia, as it will showcase the history surrounding the founding of the first English
settlement in the New World in time for the 400th anniversary commemoration in 2007.
In August, the Iwo Jima Monument at Arlington National Cemetery will be the site for a scene from
Flags of Our Fathers, a feature film produced by Clint Eastwood and Stephen Spielberg and directed by
Eastwood. Based to the best-selling book of the same name, the film is about a man who tries to
reconstruct the events of his father's involvement as one of the six soldiers who raised the flag in Iwo
Jima at the end of World War II.
In other film and television news for Virginia local screenwriter Megan Holley’s screenplay Sunshine
Cleaning is in pre-production in Los Angeles starring Ashley judd and Zooey Deschanel as two sisters
who own a crime scene cleaning company. In 2003, the screenplay won the Governor’s Screenwriting
Competition sponsored by the Virginia Film Office and caught the eye of Hollywood producers. Holley
was recently profiled in the industry newspaper Daily Variety and as one of ten new writers to watch.
In addition, the summer 2005 issue of MovieMaker magazine cast a spotlight on Richmond’s thriving
independent film scene with an article featuring comments from some of Central Virginia’s many
talented film artists. The city was commended for having a lively and exciting independent film scene
and for being a place where “filmmaking is looked on as art.” Virginia Commonwealth University’s film
program, Virginia’s deep talent base, and the city’s exceptional architecture and cultural diversity were
just a few of the attributes that local filmmakers cited as reasons for Richmond being one of the up-andcoming film communities in the country.