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was on the set of the new Will Ferrell NASCAR-themed comedy
movie last week as the filmmakers began their first week of
shooting at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.
Tentatively titled “High, Wide and Handsome”, the
movie has been filming in and around the Charlotte area
since last month. On Tuesday, the filmmakers were at LMS to
shoot on-track sequences for the film. The speedway, which
was standing in for Texas Motor Speedway, complete with TMS
signage on the walls and flag stand, will also be used as a
stand-in for Atlanta Motor Speedway and others.
The
speedway looked like a perfect replica of its sister-track
in Dallas-Fort Worth, giving LMS President and General
Manager H.A. “Humpy” Wheeler an idea on how NASCAR can solve
its scheduling problems.
“Why make all the NASCAR drivers go to 36 different races a
year?” joked Wheeler. “They can just race here every week,
and we’ll just keep changing the track signs.”
Ferrell,
who also co-wrote the script with director Adam McKay, plays
Ricky Bobby, a go-for-broke race car driver - who either
wins races or doesn’t finish at all - who loses out to a
French Formula One driver and has to climb back to the top.
The movie also stars Sacha Baron Cohen of “Da Ali G Show” as
F1 driver Jean Girard along with John C. Reilly, Leslie Bibb
and Gary Cole.
Filming will continue through next week’s UAW-GM Quality 500
race. The movie will wrap filming sometime in December, with
an expected release date next August.
The author can be contacted
petem@autoracing1.com
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