A riot going on in Cedartown

Main Street plays part in HBO pilot

It looked like a real riot was going on in downtown Cedartown, but it was all just for show.

Main Street was shut down for a two-day shoot for what will hopefully become a full-fledged HBO series following the Memorial Day holiday, and if the show is picked up for a season the filmmakers will likely be back for more.

A block in downtown Cedartown was transported back in time ahead of the road closure, and all day Wednesday and Thursday the crews brought in extras, props, animals and even pyrotechnics to recreate the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot as part of a pilot for a new series.

More details are available – mostly based on online reporting from fan websites – that this past week’s visit is part of a planned series based on the 1986 graphic novel “The Watchmen.”

Variety.com reports that veteran show runner Damon Lindelof from “Lost” will be heading up the series, and this first episode is being directed by Nicole Kassell, who has worked on several HBO shows in the past.

Those unfamiliar with “Watchmen”

can refer to the 2009 movie made by Zack Snyder, or can pick up the graphic novel written by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. The brief synopsis of the DC Comics property is that in an alternate history, the United States has won the Vietnam War and a plot is underway to push the world toward World War III. In this world, superheroes exist and have played a part in changing the course of the world’s events.

The pilot was ordered in September 2017, and shooting began this month around the state of Georgia, including Macon. Cedartown took part in the shoot as part of the recreation of the 1921 Tulsa race riot, which took place 97 years ago almost to the day that the production wrapped up locally.

Cedartown was chosen due to the architecture of one of the buildings downtown which closely matched a theater in Tulsa destroyed during the riot.

More than 300 extras were brought downtown for filming, and streets were shuttered from midnight of May 30 through midnight of June 1. Most businesses also remained closed for the two-day shoot.

If the pilot gets picked up by HBO for a full season, production officials said that Cedartown might get more screen time as part of a full run.

/ Kevin Myrick Cedartown took on the role of the Tulsa, Oklahoma neighborhood named Greenwood to shoot scenes from a riot that took place there following Memorial Day 1921 for an HBO pilot.

/ Kevin Myrick Top:Antique cars fully restored and in many cases running were brought in to add to the effect of 1921 Tulsa, Oklahoma, as Cedartown was transformed for filming during a two-day shoot for an HBO pilot on Main Street Chuck Morris and Bill Lundy escaped their office on Main Street to watch the action unfold on May 30.Above:

A downpour sent film crew members and extras scrambling for cover around the lunch hour on May 30, and not long after the weather cleared for everyone to return to work. Some of the effects were washed away during the storm. One of the extras involved in an HBO Pilot in downtown Cedartown escaped the rain under the awning and later inside the office of the Standard Journal on Main Street on May 30, 2018.ABOVE RIGHT:ABOVE LEFT:

Kevin Myrick / The special effects of death and destruction in a 1921 riot in Tulsa, Oklahoma were made real in Cedartown for two days of filming on Main Street.

ABOVE LEFT:Production crews wait around for the next round of rehearsals on Wednesday, May 30 to film action scenes for a pilot in downtown Cedartown on Main Street. Included in the crowd was Cedartown City Manager Bill Fann. Local residents sat out in chairs and watched from the corner as film crews and extras worked to get ready for shooting on May 30, 2018.ABOVE RIGHT: