Tyler Perry to Whitney Houston to David Ortiz: Fall River area's brushes with fame in 2022

Fall River is no stranger to Hollywood, with various movies being filmed in the city over the years.

One recent example being 2021’s “Don’t Look Up,” which was nominated for Best Picture by the Academy Awards. One of the movie’s pivotal scenes was filmed on the USS Massachusetts at Battleship Cove.

In 2022, Fall River had many brushes with fame.

The story of the heroic friendship between Capt. Thomas Hudner and Ensign Jesse Brown made it to the big screen, in J.D. Dillard’s “Devotion.”

Some locals shared screens big and small with Hollywood A-listers, including one movie about music legend Whitney Houston.

Still others helped make movie magic happen, working on set with popular directors.

Television stars visited the city, and one local car from Somerset even had its moment in the spotlight this year.

And on the sports front, locals made it to the front office in Major League Baseball, and others once more shared screen time with baseball legends.

These were some of the Fall River area’s brushes with fame in 2022:

‘Devotion’ puts heroic friendship of Capt. Thomas Hudner and Ensign Jesse Brown on the big screen

In the past, Fall River has been used as a movie set. In 2022, a story about Fall River was the movie. Specifically, a story about two heroes, one of whom was from Fall River. The extraordinary true story of  Fall River native and Medal of Honor recipient Capt. Thomas J. Hudner Jr. and his friend Ensign Jesse Brown made it to the silver screen this year. Starring Glen Powell (“Hidden Figures,” “Top Gun: Maverick”) as Hudner and Jonathan Majors (“Lovecraft Country,” “Loki”) as Brown, “Devotion” tells the story of two men who built a friendship while serving as pilots in the Navy during the Korean War and whose lives were forever linked by the Battle of Chosin Reservoir. Brown, who was the first Black aviator to complete the Navy’s basic flight training program, was shot down behind enemy lines in deep snow and subzero temperatures. Hudner intentionally crashed his own plane and ran to his side to try to free him. Hudner used snow to douse the flames of Brown’s destroyed plane and stayed by Brown’s side until a rescue chopper could arrive. Brown did not survive though, and the helicopter was forced to take Hudner away, leaving Brown’s body behind. For his actions, Hunder received the Medal of Honor from President Harry S. Truman. In bringing their story to the big screen, director J.D. Dillard takes this story of friendship, selflessness and heroism deeper into the realm of understanding. “On every account these were both great men," Dillard said in an interview with The Herald News. "We really centered ‘Devotion’ on a story of mutual understanding. Because that’s something that doesn’t really alter the legacy of these individuals but lets them dramatically explore some of the bigger themes of what it means to be there for one another — what it means to be a wingman, and an ally, and a friend.”

Brandon Gomes, of Fall River, named general manager of LA Dodgers

The city’s brushes with fame began in January and kept right on up to the end of 2022. It all started with some big sports news for one of Fall River’s sons: Durfee High graduate Brandon Gomes, 37, was named as the general manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers. The former major league pitcher joined the Dodgers as minor league pitching coordinator in 2016 and had served as vice-president and assistant general manager for the last three seasons, including the World Series championship season of 2020. “Once I was done playing, my dream was to become the general manager of a major league team,” Gomes said in a January interview with The Herald News. “I'm very fortunate and very grateful.”

Real estate:Glamorous Tiverton contemporary sells for $750K

Fall River’s Aviyen Merced films 2nd commercial with David Ortiz

In 2022, city resident Aviyen Merced got to attend a very special reunion: he filmed his second commercial with David Ortiz. After teaming up with “Big Papi” in 2021 in a commercial for eternalHealth, a cloud-based health insurance company, they teamed up again this year to film a sequel. The first commercial was baseball-themed, and this year’s was about the party after the 2021 baseball game. Merced was thrilled to team up with Ortiz once more. “I was springing in the air, jumping up and down,” he said. “I was really surprised.” This year, Merced and his family also ate lunch with the former Red Sox star. And there’s hope for another reunion in the future: there’s been talk of a third commercial.

Fall River dance student appears in Whitney Houston film

Gabbrielle Anacleto, who goes by Gabby and is a student at Fall River's Artistic Dance Studio, made some memories this year that she will certainly always love, appearing in the Whitney Houston biopic “I Wanna Dance With Somebody.” The film, starring Naomi Ackie as music legend Houston, opened in theaters Dec. 21. Anacleto, 12, shares a scene dancing with Ackie to the song "I'm Every Woman," recreating a late 80s Houston concert in Chicago. "It was really exciting... it was an awesome opportunity to meet someone famous and be a part of something new," she said in a December interview with The Herald News. Someday, she hopes to make it to Los Angeles to be a choreographer. For now, she’s sharing her epic debut with her friends and family: they were working on putting a watch party together at the Picture Show for when the film came out.

‘Roadfood’ host and ‘Supernatural’ star Misha Collins visits Fall River

Early in 2022, former “Supernatural” star Misha Collins visited Fall River while filming one of the New England episodes of “Roadfood.” Collins hosts the show, which follows him around the country as he learns about different areas through their food. While filming in New Bedford, he also made a trip to Fall River and learned about the importance of the city’s Portuguese history and its residents, as well as sampling some traditional foods. Collins visited Portugalia Marketplace, which he called "the Whole Foods of Portuguese imported cuisine." He also visited The Liberal Club, which has been a part of Fall River for nearly 50 years and whose owners were ready for the club to step into the spotlight. Collins also stars in another project related to our corner of Massachusetts: he plays folklore professor Jeremy Bradshaw in the podcast “Bridgewater,” a spooky narrative set in the Bridgewater Triangle.

On the ice:Here are the top Somerset Berkley, Diman co-op hockey players to watch this season

Actress Pamela Morgan is just one degree away from Kevin Bacon

Rehoboth resident Pamela Morgan — originally from Fall River — is an actress who’s worked with Keira Knightley, Paul Giamatti, and Jesse Eisenberg. In 2022, she shared the small screen with Kevin Bacon in the Showtime series “City on a Hill.” It’s not the first time she’s been one degree from Kevin Bacon either: She worked with Bacon and his wife, actress Kyra Sedgwick, in June 2021 on the movie, “Space Oddity,” which was shot in Rhode Island and directed by Sedgwick. For Morgan, who has several films she appeared in coming out in 2023, including “Boston Strangler,” it’s been a dream. She took to the stage as a teenager, and then took a long break beginning in her 20s. For 20 years, she focused on raising her daughter, working and taking care of her family. When she turned 50, she threw her hat back into the ring and decided to pursue her dream again. Now, she’s working with A-list actors.

Somerset man’s vintage Cadillac plays big role in Ben Affleck movie

In 2022, even local cars had their brushes with fame. A turquoise 1968 Cadillac DeVille belonging to Todd Arnone of Somerset appeared in “The Tender Bar,” directed by George Clooney and starring Ben Affleck. Not only is the car in the movie, it belongs to Affleck’s character. “I didn’t know when they borrowed it if they were gonna park it on the street or how it was gonna be used,” Arnone told The Herald News earlier this year. But when he first saw a poster for the movie, “(Affleck) was sitting on my car.” Arnone added the car to his collection, which consists of vehicles from the 60s and 70s, about five years ago. And now that vintage DeVille has made it all the way from Somerset to the silver screen.

Fall River native plays big role in making Tyler Perry movie

Gina Barboza, who grew up on Fordney Street in Fall River and graduated from Durfee, has spent years building a career in film production. Now living in Atlanta and operating her own entertainment company, Balancing Acts Entertainment, Barboza was the production supervisor for Tyler Perry’s “A Jazzman’s Blues,” on Netflix.  With just a handful of people in the chain of command between her and Perry, she worked with the heads of each on-set department to make sure production went smoothly.

“I’m living proof that you can come from nothing,” Barboza said to The Herald News in October. “Being able to work with Mr. Perry was like one of those things that you dream about.” These days she’s also interested in writing and directing; she wrote three feature films over COVID and is pitching her scripts.

Taunton Daily Gazette/Herald News copy editor and digital producer Kristina Fontes can be reached at kfontes@heraldnews.com. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Herald News and Taunton Daily Gazette today.

This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Fall River 2022: Tyler Perry, Whitney Houston, Ben Affleck, Kevin Bacon