Alec Baldwin joins the cast of ‘Kent State’ movie set to be filmed in Columbus

Interest in the filming of another Hollywood movie in Columbus just got a huge boost.

After news broke this week that Alec Baldwin will star in the movie “Kent State,” a key question for the Columbus film industry arose:

Is the “Kent State” movie still scheduled to be filmed in Columbus?

The entertainment news website Deadline Hollywood reported in September that “Kent State” would be filmed here. Columbus Film Commission and VisitColumbusGa president and CEO Peter Bowden confirmed the news to the Ledger-Enquirer then.

Filming was supposed to start in November, Deadline reported. That hasn’t happened.

But the movie’s producer, Autumn Moon Productions CEO Kristen Moser, told the L-E in a text message Friday, “Yes, we are planning to film in Columbus, GA – Dates TBD.”

The L-E didn’t reach Bowden for comment Friday.

Bowden, however, said in September that the movie’s 25 days of filming primarily would be at Columbus State University. CSU’s spokesman at the time, Greg Hudgison, told the Ledger-Enquirer in a voicemail then, “We don’t have anything confirmed. We did have a site visit — and it sounds like it’s the same movie — but that was months ago, and there’s nothing official signed as far as permission to shoot on campus.”

Friday, a CSU official who declined to be identified, said the university and movie representatives haven’t had any contact since then and no agreement has been reached.

Asked where in Columbus the “Kent State” movie will be filmed and for how many days, Moser told the L-E in a text message, “Locations and details TBD.”

What the Kent State movie is about

“Kent State” is a movie about the Ohio National Guard’s 1970 fatal shooting of student protesters at Kent State University. IMDB says the movie “brings to life the tragedy of May 4, 1970, when four students were shot and killed by the National Guard while exercising their rights to free speech during a campus protest of the Vietnam War.”

Written and directed by Karen Slade and distributed by Briarcliff Entertainment, the movie also will feature actors Dermot Mulroney, Clancy Brown, Aksel Hennie, Christopher Backus, Christopher Ammanuel, Andrew Ortenberg and Jacqueline Emerson, according to Deadline.

Baldwin will play Kent State president Robert I. White, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

In April, prosecutors dismissed an involuntary manslaughter charge against Baldwin in the fatal 2021 shooting of a cinematographer on the set of the Western film “Rust, ” citing new evidence and the need for more time to investigate, the Associated Press reported.

What movies have been filmed in Columbus

Recent movies filmed in the Columbus area include action thrillers “Cash Out” starring John Travolta and “Survive the Night” starring Bruce Willis, faith-based stories “Overcomer,” “My Brother’s Keeper,” “Electric Jesus” and “The Greatest Inheritance” and dramas “Things Don’t Stay Fixed” by artist Bo Bartlett and “The Neon Highway” starring Beau Bridges.

Bowden, in that September interview with the L-E, noted the significance of the “Kent State” film project coming to Columbus in terms of the type of movie and its budget.

“When you have a film that’s telling a piece of history and interpreting it the way the writers and producers are hoping to deliver to the public, I mean, this is a different type of movie in Columbus,” Bowden said. “It takes that moment some of us remember growing up and transports that piece of time and makes it even more relevant or impactful.”

At approximately $10 million, “Kent State” has the highest budget among the movies receiving financial incentives from the Columbus Film Fund in its seven-year history, Bowden said then. He declined to specify the financial agreement, but money raised by private donations will offset some production costs in Columbus.