Wilmington film pioneer Martha De Laurentiis dies at age 67

An influential figure in making Wilmington a hub for TV and film production has died.

Martha DeLaurentiis, who with her husband, Dino, brought an entertainment group here in the 1980s, died at age 67 on Saturday after a long battle with cancer, according to several media outlets, including Variety.

In 1980, she formed the Dino De Laurentiis Company with eventual husband, Dino. They set up shop in Wilmington on 23rd Street (now EUE Screen Gems) and put together a string of movies shot in the Port City, from "Firestarter" to "Maximum Overdrive," "Blue Velvet" and "Crimes of the Heart" among others, bringing in such stars as Drew Barrymore, Emilio Estevez, Stephen King, Sissy Spacek, Dennis Hopper and more.

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Martha, who was associate producer on many of the Wilmington-shot films of the 1980s, later became president of the company after Dino's death in 2010.

De Laurentiis was a guest on a 2019 episode of the StarNews' Cape Fear Unearthed podcast upon the 35th anniversary of "Firestarter," when she first became a producer after threatening to leave the company.

Martha told the story of a magazine Dino saw with Brunswick County landmark Orton Plantation on it, and he was hooked with it as a spot to film the movie. One thing led to another, and the affordability of putting a studio in Wilmington plus the many shot-worthy locations made the Port City a fit as a permanent home.

It also proved not all productions had to go through California.

"That's where traveling to North Carolina, the Hollywood East, we made so many films and television series because people could come and not have to bring so many crew members in and could find them locally there," Martha said on the podcast. "And it became an industry.

"We showed it could be done."

As for Wilmington getting its first taste of the limelight thanks to her and Dino, she could've never believed the Port City would grow with TV and film production as it did.

Still she was happy to see such growth and kept up with friends in the area.

"We were always proud of what it became from the start," Martha said on the podcast. "We had a home there up until a few years ago, and I sold it. We wanted to live there, we vacationed there, we loved being there. The fact it continues to be (a production company and filming) in the area...it's absolutely wonderful. It's not what you go into an area thinking that you're building futures for people, but it's part of what you're doing and contributing and benefitting from the community."

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Some of the recent movies shot in Wilmington include "Halloween Kills" and "Scream 5" among others currently in production.

According to Variety, Martha is credited as an executive producer on director Keith Thomas’ new adaptation of “Firestarter,” set to release in 2022. She also offered a teaser on how that production was going in the 2019 podcast episode.

Martha De Laurentiis is survived by her two daughters, Carolyna and Dina.

This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Wilmington NC film pioneer Martha De Laurentiis dies