Jamey Johnson loves the idea of “Music City U.S.A.” becoming “Movie City U.S.A.”
To be clear, Nashville doesn’t have to be one or the other. The growing city can be both at the same time, and recently showcased that it’s the perfect place to have a music premiere. A new Brad Pitt film titled Heart of the Beast had its global premiere in Franklin, Tennessee – just 30 minutes or so south of Nashville.
It’s no secret that Nashville has changed tremendously in the past decade. One of the more modern changes that Music City seems to be barreling towards is being a legitimate place for the movie industry to set up shop. Country stars like Jamey Johnson are thrilled about the opportunity, and told Local on 2 at the premiere of Heart of the Beast that people should start getting used to it:
“This is the new Nashville man, get used to it. There’s going to be all kinds of movie premieres, and probably even movies being made here moving forward. This is us now.”
He’s right about that.
I don’t know if you’ve heard, but Paramount Studios is seriously considering moving out of California, and Nashville has been thrown out there as a potential landing spot for Paramount. There’s even rumors flying that the studio is currently looking for office space in the Nashville area. With Music City being one of the fastest-growing cities in the United States for nearly a decade, the move would make sense.
It wasn’t long ago that over 100 people were moving to the city every day, and it’s no secret that the healthcare and tech industries – among others – have been embracing Nashville as a business-friendly large city for their operations. The movie and entertainment industry would be the latest to join in on the fun and make the move to Music City.
And I like the idea of Jamey Johnson being the unofficial Nashville greeter for the potentially incoming movie industry. He was thrilled to be at the premiere for Heart of the Beast, partly because he has a lot of history with the Franklin venue the premiere took place in:
“I’ve played this venue several times now. Back when I was working in the industrial field, I was working for a pump company called Heartland Pump and one of our jobs was de-watering rock quarries.
So I got to see this place a long time ago. And my wife and I got married here last May, so it holds a very special place in my heart.”
And just in case you don’t know much about Heart of the Beast, the upcoming film has more than one Nashville connection.
The trailer for the movie is paced by Stephen Wilson Jr.’s cover of “Stand By Me.” Brad Pitt revealed that he was floored when he first heard the song, and immediately did a deep dive into the rest of Wilson Jr.’s work afterwards. The movie star was so moved by it that he made sure it acted as the anthem for his latest project.
Heart of the Beast Trailer featuring Stephen Wilson Jr.’s “Stand By Me”
