John Hannah: 'Ping Pong Summer' starts filming

'Ping Pong Summer' Starts Filming in Ocean City
Hollywood has hit the beach in Ocean City. Filming has started for the movie Ping Pong Summer. 

Stars like Susan Sarandon, Lea Thompson, John Hannah and more are in town for the film. Local actors were cast, including an Ocean City girl, Emmi Shockley.

The actors were ecstatic to be in Ocean City, some for the first time, all said it was a welcoming place with a unique sense of charm.

"It's crazy, there's so much character, so many funny places," said Thompson. "I love our hotel, I love the beach, I've been swimming and saw the dolphins this morning. It just seems like a really fun place with a small sense of community."

Alongside the big names on screen is local star Emmi Shockley, who is a 10th grader at Worcester Preparatory School in Berlin. She grew up in Ocean City and landed a lead child role.

"I am extremely proud that they would choose to film it here, and they are casting it in such a great light that it's awesome," she said. "And we'll be filming somewhere that I am used to, so it's so great."

The movie features iconic sites and businesses in the town: Trimper's Rides, Thrasher's, the boardwalk, and the Paul Revere Smorgasbord, to name a few.

Director and writer Michael Tully is a Maryland native. He said the movie's plot will in fact be based in Ocean City. 

"It will not just be another bland story that feels personal and universal but doesn't really have a unique pulse and Ocean City is embedded in that," he said. The movie hits home for him, because he went to Ocean City many of his summers as a child.

Filming will continue until the end of October. The movie is set to come out next year.

Source (with video): WBOC 

Also reported by Ocean City Today

John Hannah: 'Ping Pong Summer' heads into production

Ping Pong Summer, a 1980s-set family beach comedy, begins principal photography on September 17 in Ocean City, Maryland. Academy Award Winner Susan Sarandon stars alongside BAFTA-nominated John Hannah (The Mummy, Four Weddings and a Funeral), screen veteran Lea Thompson (Back to the Future 1, 2 & 3, Caroline In The City), actress and author Amy Sedaris (Strangers with Candy) and Robert Longstreet (Take Shelter, Pineapple Express, Ain't Them Bodies Saints). Filming is scheduled to wrap the final week of October.

The 1980s-set film follows a hip-hop and ping pong obsessed 13-year old from the Maryland suburbs on his long-awaited family beach vacation to Ocean City, where he encounters both a new best friend and a new worst enemy.Ping Pong Summer  is the third narrative feature film helmed by writer/director Michael Tully, who previously wrote and directed the Sundance Film Festival selection Septien (IFC/Sundance Selects), directed documentary and SxSW pick Silver Jew (Drag City), and directed the narrative feature Cocaine Angel (IndiePix), which was also a selection of the Rotterdam and SxSW Film Festivals. 

Additionally, the cast will be rounded out by six teenagers discovered during open casting calls that took place throughout the state of Maryland during the spring and summer of 2012. 

Read more at Movie City News

Indie film with John Hannah and Susan Sarandon set to film in Ocean City in September

Ping Pong Summer, an indie film starring Susan Sarandon, Amy Sedaris and John Hannah, is set to start filming for six weeks in Ocean City next month, the state announced last week.

The Maryland Film Office estimates that producers will hire 90 local crew, actors and extras, as well as purchasing and renting goods and services from 140 Maryland businesses. The economic impact: $2 million, according to estimates by the state.

The film is written and will be directed by Maryland native Mike Tully.

Here's the release from the state:

Governor Martin O’Malley today announced that independent film “Ping Pong Summer” will begin six weeks of filming in Ocean City in September. The coming-of-age comedy,  which is written and will be directed by Maryland native Michael Tully, is set in Ocean City during the 1980’s and is based on Tully’s annual vacations to the beach.

The film’s cast includes Academy Award winner Susan Sarandon (“Dead Man Walking”, “Thelma and Louise”, “Bull Durham”); Amy Sedaris (“Strangers with Candy”, “The Good Wife”); and John Hannah (“The Mummy”, “Four Weddings and a Funeral”).

Read more at The Baltimore Sun 

Also reported by On Location Vacations