Over the last decade, Charlotte has made it onto the big screen with filming for entertainment hits such as The Hunger Games and Homeland taking place in and around the city. Now, Charlotte, as well as other surrounding locations such as South Mountain and Crowders Mountain will be the backdrop for a new movie. This new film is written by and starring the members of the Saturday Night Live comedy group Please Don’t Destroy. The New York-based comedy trio, all of whom write and produce videos for Saturday Night Live, includes Ben Marshall, John Higgins, and Martin Herlihy. The trio began working together while attending NYU and founded Please Don’t Destroy in 2017. Since then, they have become a breakout success on SNL, with some of their most popular sketches featuring celebrities such as Taylor Swift, Rami Malek, and Lizzo.
According to Variety, the movie, which currently remains untitled, will follow three childhood friends who decide they don’t like their life trajectory and go in search of a rumored gold treasure hidden in a nearby mountain. Additional members of the cast include former SNL cast member Conan O’Brien and current SNL cast member Bowen Yang. Judd Apatow, who has worked on productions with other SNL members, such as Pete Davidson for the 2020 comedy The King of Staten Island, is producing the film, and Paul Briganti, former SNL director, will be directing the movie. According to the Charlotte Observer, the movie is a recipient of the North Carolina Film and Entertainment Grant and received a $7 million rebate grant.
Within Charlotte, the movie has been filming in locations around the NoDa area, including the popular restaurant Brooks’ Sandwich House. Josh Church, an executive producer for the project, explained to CharlotteFive that filming the movie in Charlotte allowed for an ideal small town feel for the crew. For filming, the production closed down both Brooks’ Sandwich House and surrounding streets, however, it wasn’t until July that the restaurant learned about the production for the movie. Lauren Brooks, the manager of Brooks’ Sandwich House, said that “they had contacted us through email and at first I thought it was a scam because we get a lot of scam things that happen, but they were interested in doing a Saturday Night Live footage.”
Brooks voiced her skepticism about the request by explaining how she thought it “really wasn’t going to happen honestly because we’re a little shop all the way in North Carolina and they’re all the way up in New York.” However, when it became apparent that the filming for the movie was legitimate, she said everyone was “really excited about it!”
Brooks’ Sandwich House, currently run by third generation owners Lauren Brooks and her younger brother Teal Brooks, is a local family business that will mark its fiftieth year this January. Brooks detailed how her grandfather established the shop five decades ago, saying “he wasn’t expecting to open up a restaurant but he started experimenting on chili and turns out everybody loved it so much.” The main item the sandwich house is known for, along with their full menu of southern staples, is their cheeseburger all the way, which is a specialty that combines mustard, chili, and onion.
Filming at this restaurant concluded in late August of this year, and it is predicted that the movie will be released in 2023. It will be exciting to recognize all of the familiar locations in the Charlotte areas featured in the film, as well as anticipate what future productions might come to town next.