Pharrell biopic musical to film in Va. this year

Virginia Beach-born-and-bred entertainment superstar Pharrell Williams will film a movie this spring and summer in Virginia based on his childhood, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Friday.

There had been rumors about the musical film project, called “Atlantis” in movie trade publications recently, but Youngkin confirmed the feature is being made in Central Virginia and Hampton Roads, and will be co-produced by Williams.

According to its IMDB page, the movie will be directed by Academy Award winner Michel Gondry and include among its stars Halle Bailey, Kelvin Harrison Jr., 2024 Oscar winner Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Portsmouth-born Grammy winner Missy Elliott, Grammy winner André 3000 and Mary J. Blige, a two-time Oscar nominee and Grammy winner. Williams is not expected to appear in the Universal movie.

Bailey, a Grammy nominee, starred as Ariel in Disney’s 2023 live-action musical “The Little Mermaid,” and Harrison played B.B. King in the 2022 “Elvis” biopic and starred in “Chevalier” the same year. Gondry won an Oscar as co-writer of the original screenplay for 2004’s “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” which he also directed, and he started his filmmaking career by directing music videos for many artists, including the Chemical Brothers, the White Stripes and Bjork.

Gil Netter, Mimi Valdés and Williams will produce “Atlantis” through their respective companies, Gil Netter Productions and I Am Other, Williams’ umbrella company for his creative endeavors, including music, film and the Billionaire Boys Club clothing line. The script for “Atlantis” was written by Martin Hynes, scriptwriter for “Toy Story 4,” and Steven Levenson, a Tony winner who wrote the script for the 2021 musical drama film “Tick, Tick…Boom!”

Williams grew up in the Virginia Beach housing project known as Atlantis Apartments, and the film is set in a neighborhood inspired by Atlantis in summer 1977, although it’s a fictionalized account based on the 51-year-old Williams’ life, according to the governor’s office.

“This high-profile project will place a global spotlight on Virginia as both an incomparable place to visit and as a preferred destination for investment from this growing industry,” Youngkin said in a statement. “The project will provide high-wage jobs, help retain our trained [film] production workforce, and deliver an immediate economic impact shared across a variety of sectors, from construction to hospitality. We warmly welcome Pharrell and the team behind this groundbreaking project to Virginia.”

In 2017, Entertainment Weekly and other publications reported that Williams would produce a musical based on his childhood, with Tony-winning director Michael Mayer set to direct the film, at the time a 20th Century Fox project. However, the pandemic and, later, the actors and writers’ strikes in 2023 led to delays for the project. Gondry has been developing the musical since 2022, and the Virginia Film Office has been working on the project for about six years, director Andy Edmunds said.

Virginia has hosted some high-profile film and TV projects in recent decades, including Steven Spielberg’s 2012 film “Lincoln,” the 2019 film “Harriet” and 2020’s “Wonder Woman 1984.” Television productions made in Virginia include the Hulu miniseries “Dopesick,” which starred Michael Keaton and was filmed in Richmond and Clifton Forge in 2021, Apple TV’s “Swagger,” a two-season drama based on NBA player Kevin Durant’s childhood and filmed in Richmond in 2021 and 2022, and AMC’s “The Walking Dead: World Beyond,” filmed in Richmond in 2019.

“Atlantis” will be eligible to receive a Virginia film tax credit or grant, according to the governor’s office. The exact amount will be based on the number of Virginia workers hired, goods and services purchased, and deliverables, including state tourism promotions.

The film announcement comes after a failed push to pass the “Lights, Camera, Jobs Act” through Virginia’s legislature this year. Sponsored by Del. Charniele L. Herring, D-Alexandria, and Sen. Ghazala F. Hashmi, D-Chesterfield, in the House of Delegates and the Virginia State Senate, the twin bills would have raised the state’s film incentives cap from $11.5 million a year to $46.5 million annually, but both measures stalled during the 2024 General Assembly session.

“We have essentially committed all allotted tax credits for work that has already occurred through 2026 … between ‘Dopesick,’ ‘Swagger,’ ‘Walking Dead,’ etc.,” Edmunds said Friday.

According to news reports, Virginia’s cap is considerably lower than other states’ incentives allowances, including neighboring Southern states. Georgia has no cap on film tax credits and certified more than $1.2 billion in credits in 2023, although legislators proposed a limit on tax incentives because they view them as a risk to state finances. However, the bill failed during its state legislative session. West Virginia also has no cap on film tax credits.

North Carolina’s annual cap is $31 million, and Kentucky’s is $75 million.

David O’Ferrall, business agent for the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) union Local 487, which covers Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C., said that “Atlantis” was expected to film last year in Virginia but was postponed because of the writers’ and actors’ strikes, which ended last fall. The longer lead time allowed “Atlantis” to qualify for state tax incentives before another project could lay claim to benefits, O’Ferrall said Friday. The amount of incentive “Atlantis” will receive is based on the production’s final spending in Virginia, Edmunds says.

O’Ferrall expects about 100 IATSE workers — many from Virginia — to be employed on the “Atlantis” set in behind-the-scenes roles like set design, sound and other technical jobs. Actors and writers are covered by the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, known collectively as SAG-AFTRA. According to O’Ferrall, IATSE workers on “Atlantis” will be paid between $33.93 and $41.12 an hour based on national standards, and higher rates if they work overtime.

Edmunds anticipates that the film will employ as many as 300 to 350 people in cast, crew and background artists, and will shoot around Central Virginia and Virginia Beach, although the filmmakers declined to disclose exact locations and dates.