Atlanta can be thought of as a city centered around travel. Its origins began in railroad expansion, and the airport is the busiest in the world.
Perhaps this connectivity (in addition to a lucrative film and television tax credit) is why the city has become a reliable movie location, with countless film productions using Atlanta as their backdrop over the past several years. With the recent news of Disney and Marvel taking their productions elsewhere, I wanted to take a look at a few Atlanta locations that have appeared in films and see firsthand what makes them special.
First on my list was the Swan Coach House, located at the Atlanta History Center. Famously used as President Snow’s mansion in “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire,” the Swan House has been a beacon of architecture in Atlanta since it was constructed in the 1920s. In 1966, the Atlanta Historical Society bought the mansion to restore and preserve it, making it the centerpiece of the Buckhead campus.
The Swan House gives visitors “a glimpse into what life was like in 1930s Atlanta,” said Cydni Adams, an attendant at the Atlanta History Center. So, it’s fitting that the house is now recognizable within “The Hunger Games” universe, representing an alternate reality that feels like today, but slightly off. The mansion is also a popular venue for weddings, one of which was happening the day I visited. As I walked through the garden, the bride passed by in her flowing dress. I felt a strong sense of unity, how people from all around, for various reasons, migrate to this house in Atlanta to build things together – whether that be movies or marriages.
This feeling became even stronger at my second stop, the Marietta Square. The Marietta Square has been the center of the community since 1848 and houses a bevy of restaurants, shops, and a history museum. For movies looking for a more residential and suburban feel, like “I, Tonya” and “Hidden Figures,” the square provides a great setting that’s only about 30 minutes from downtown Atlanta.
Leah Burgin at the Marietta History Center thinks the square got the opportunity to be in these films because of Marietta’s “classic small town” feel. Similar to the Swan House, Marietta Square preserves a piece of history while also feeling current.
I couldn’t help but notice that most of the workers I talked to weren’t originally from Atlanta.
“The Canadian Consulate is downtown, so there’s a big pocket of Canadians here as well as East Africans and Indians,” Burgin said.
Again, that feeling of community and unity jumped out to me, as the story of Marietta is a story about migration. Resident Amy Reed, who came to Atlanta about 10 years ago, noted that “diversity and community are what Marietta is built on.” It should be no surprise, then, that film producers would want to emulate that in their productions by coming to Atlanta. A film like “Selma,” which used Marietta Square as a stand-in for segregated Alabama, captures the diversity of the Civil Rights era in countless communities across the South – all represented by Marietta.
With fewer productions using Atlanta as a backdrop these days, the Swan House and the Marietta Square may not find themselves on the big screen as frequently. But for the people in these communities, there has been a lasting impact left by the films. Personally, growing up and attending high school near Marietta while these films were being shot gave me perspective on the careers of those in film production. These films have brought people together from all corners of the country to this little town in a forest and created a wave of creativity that is still in full effect.
