Movie magic may come to Newberry

Actor-director Bill Duke (2^nd from left) visited Newberry recently as the city is being considered as a possible location for the upcoming film, “The Ruby McCollum Story.” 

When actor-director Bill Duke came to Newberry and Gainesville recently, people could not help but notice that he bears a striking resemblance to himself.

“Everywhere we went, people would stop him and ask ‘Has anyone ever told you that you look like Bill Duke?’” said Jude Hagin, co-producer of “The Ruby McCollum Story,” an upcoming film that Duke is directing.

Duke was in town for five days in the beginning of December looking for potential locations for the $12 million movie, which is scheduled to begin filming at the end of March.

The large, bald-headed actor is most recognizable for starring alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger in the 80s action movies “Commando” and “Predator,” but several people who met him during his stay found that in person, his demeanor couldn’t be more different from the tough guy persona that he often portrays on screen.

“He is the most sensitive and wonderful person,” Hagin said. “He is a very calm, loving, sweet and spiritual human being.”

Joy Glanzer, a local real estate agent, worked with Duke and his team to scout locations for the movie. She said that she was given a list of things to look for that included homes and churches that have an “early 1950s-era feel.”

“The crew was lovely,” she said of Duke and the other filmmakers. “We enjoyed them tremendously.”

While he was in the area, Duke visited Newberry’s Backyard BBQ and the Hippodrome Theatre in Gainesville. He also attended church in Newberry on Sunday and a luncheon that was held for him and his crew at Newberry City Commissioner Alena Lawson’s home.

Glanzer said that Duke was pleased with downtown Newberry and that the crew was particularly interested in the Kincaid Building. The Kincaid Building is a wooden building located along West Newberry Road in the city of Newberry. Built in 1880, it was originally located near Dudley Farm, in what is now Jonesville. Thomas Kincaid moved it in the early 1900s and turned it into a general store.

Barbara Hendrix, Manager of Newberry Main Street Organization, said that Newberry Main Street has been applying for grants to renovate the building and turn it into a museum.  She said that if the building is chosen as a site for the movie, the filmmakers might be able to improve the building, which has an unstable foundation. However, she added, she hasn’t gotten her hopes up because she was told that they are still looking at locations in other states and haven’t committed to anything yet.

“I’ve learned not to get too excited about these things until they happen,” she said.

Hagin, who is the vice president of Gainesville-based Springtree Studios, confirmed that the filmmakers are also considering locations in Georgia and Louisiana. She said that she hopes that the movie will be filmed in Florida because the story takes place in Florida, but money and politics will play a role in their decision.

“If we end up taking a Florida story out of Florida, that is sad,” she said.

The movie will tell the true story of Ruby McCollum, a wealthy, educated black woman from Live Oak, Fla., who shot and killed a white doctor in 1952. It will be based on William Bradford Huie’s best-selling book, “Ruby McCollum: Woman in the Suwannee County Jail.”

Live Oak was not considered as a location for the movie because “sometimes you can be too close to a story,” Hagin said. “We were not sure if we would be welcome.”

The story of Ruby McCollum is a tumultuous one that many North Florida residents have not forgotten. According to an article written by Huie that ran in EBONY magazine in November 1954, McCollum was sentenced to death by electric chair by an all-white jury.  Her first amendment rights were violated by the judge when he did not let her speak to reporters during the trial. Writer Zora Neal Hurston, who covered the case for the Pittsburgh Courier, deemed it the first time that “paramour rights,” meaning a white man’s right to a black woman’s body, were questioned in court.

Hagin said that when Duke heard about the story and found out that it had not been told through film, he was eager to become involved.  As a director, Duke is known for choosing socially conscious films that impact the African American community.

So far, actors Burt Reynolds and Matt Latner (“90210” and “Vampires Suck”) have signed on to do the film. The leading roles have not yet been filled, Hagin said.