Tyler Perry shoots scenes on Beale Street for new movie
LYNNVILLE — The Marshall County Sheriff ’s Office and two of its top employees have been ordered to pay a combined $485,000 to a family after a jury found in October that the office unlawfully seized roughly 50 beef cattle from their Chapel Hill farm. h It wasn’t the first time they seized livestock without a warrant, either. h Documents included in a federal lawsuit show that the office for years did not receive warrants before seizing livestock in alleged animal cruelty investigations. In some cases, like the one involving the Chapel Hill farm, the office sold the cattle after seizing them. Then, the county could “anticipate making a profit,” according to a 2020 deposition of Sheriff Billy Lamb.
If you thought you saw Tyler Perry on Beale Street this week, don’t blame the Handy’s Hurricanes from Rum Boogie Cafe.
The superstar actor-writer-producer-director was here Tuesday to shoot scenes for his new movie, Memphis and Shelby County Film & Television Commissioner Linn Sitler confirmed Wednesday.
The movie is titled “Joe’s College Road Trip.” The Netflix project began production earlier this month, with scenes also shot this week in Clarksdale, Mississippi.
The comedy-drama follows a grandfather and grandson on a road trip that includes visits to locations of cultural and historic significance to Black America. Perry, in a white Afro-style wig that is less extravagant than his famous Madea hairpiece, plays the grandfather.
In addition to shooting on Beale, the 54-year-old Perry and his traveling Tyler Perry Studios crew filmed outside the National Civil Rights Museum.
Jon Shivers, director of Beale Street for the Downtown Memphis Commission, said the Beale scenes mainly involved the grandfather and grandson driving up and down the street in the vintage red convertible that is their road-trip vehicle. Shot on what was a somewhat misty and slightly rainy night, the sequence took “a few hours” to complete, Shivers said.
“Any time we can showcase Beale and Downtown Memphis in a positive light in the national spotlight, we're going to do so,” Shivers said. He said the street was not closed and Beale remained open during the filming, although the district was not very crowded that night.
Shivers said Perry's team began working out the logistics of the Beale Street visit about two weeks in advance of its arrival in Memphis. The filming was essentially a secret project, with no advance publicity released by Perry's team or local officials.
“Joe's College Road Trip” is one of two new movies Perry is shooting this month for Netflix. The other, being made at Tyler's home studios in Atlanta, is “Madea's Destination Wedding,” the 13th in the series showcasing Perry's signature comedy creation, the straight-talking, pistol-packing matriarch known as Madea. (Too bad that production didn't come to Memphis because “Madea hits Beale” is a phrase with promise.)