Pittsburgh Becomes an Olympic City

(ATR) Georgia is not on the mind of the television producer filming scenes set at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics in, of all places, Pittsburgh.

While the Peach State is a television and movie hotbed, thanks to generous tax incentives, "Manhunt: Lone Wolf" is seeking hundreds of extras in the Pittsburgh area to film the Centennial Olympic Park Bombing.

Deadline.com reported that the Lionsgate Television series will center on security guard Richard Jewell, who was originally accused of the crime perpetrated by Eric Rudolph. Rudolph was eventually caught and convicted of setting the bomb that killed a spectator and injured more than 100 people during the Games. A television cameraman died of a heart attack after rushing to the park.

The overnight scenes will be shot from June 18 to June 27 and extras will be paid to portray spectators, vendors, EMTs and police. Southern accents are not required.

This is the second series of the TV drama, which follows a different FBI case each edition. In a twist, the first season, which centered around the Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski, was originally supposed to film in Pittsburgh. It relocated to Atlanta after a delay in finding the lead actor resulted in a loss of the Pennsylvania tax credits. The series aired on the Discovery Channel.

The "Manhunt" franchise is now owned by Charter Communications and the second season will air on the Spectrum Originals channel.

Although the series is a loss for Georgia, which may forfeit a lot of film and television business in the wake of the controversial "heartbeat bill" that bans abortion as early as six weeks into pregnancy, filming on location would have been an emotional reminder of a dark chapter in Atlanta history.

Jack Huston will play Rudolph and Cameron Britton will portray Jewell in "Manhunt: Lone Wolf."

The series will beat a proposed Clint Eastwood film about Jewell to the finish line. Last month Warner Bros. acquired the rights to "The Ballad of Richard Jewell" from Fox-Disney with Eastwood on board to direct.

According to Variety, Eastwood has wanted to do a movie for several years about Jewell, who died in 2007. Jonah Hill and Leonardo DiCaprio were originally attached to the star in the project. They will now be involved in producing the film, which is based on a Marie Brenner article in Vanity Fair magazine.

There is no official word on where "The Ballad of Richard Jewell" will be filmed, but Eastwood is no stranger to filming in Georgia. The 89-year-old directed his most recent film, "The Mule," in Georgia, as well as "The 15:17 to Paris," which also came out in 2018.

But if the "heartbeat bill" drives the production away, there’s always Pittsburgh.

Written by Karen Rosen

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