Movie with an all-star cast and based on a best-selling novel is set to film in Wilmington

A movie with some well-known Hollywood stars appears ready to begin shooting in Wilmington.

“The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat” was recently listed on the website of the Wilmington Regional Film Commission as being in pre-production.

Based on a best-selling 2013 novel by the author Edward Kelsey Moore, it's about three women in small-town Indiana who've known each other since high school. Now in middle age, the women find their friendships tested when each one faces a major life crisis.

According to a July report from film industry website Deadline.com, the movie will star three of the most acclaimed Black actresses in the business: Uzo Aduba, Aunjanue Ellis and Sanaa Lathan.

Emmy-winning actress Aduba is best known for playing Crazy Eyes on Netflix series "Orange is the New Black," and she also provided the voice of main character Alisha Hawthorne in current Disney/Pixar hit "Lightyear."

Aduba was in the Wilmington area earlier this year for a role in the dramatic comedy "Providence," which shot mainly in Southport.

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Aunjanue Ellis is another veteran actress and was up for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar earlier this year for her role in "King Richard," which starred Will Smith. In addition to a whole raft of credits, Ellis is also starring in the Warner Bros. remake of "The Color Purple," which is set to be released next year.

Emmy-nominated actress and filmmaker  Sanaa Lathan starred in the 2000 movie "Love & Basketball" and 2004's "Alien vs. Predator," and she has appeared in numerous TV series, including "Nip/Tuck" and "Succession."

Not a lot is known about the movie version of “The Supremes At Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat," but according to the Deadline article the movie is being directed by Tina Mabry (2009 film "Mississippi Damned") from a script by Gina Prince-Bythewood, who also wrote "Love & Basketball" and 2008's "The Secret Life of Bees," which was filmed in Wilmington.

Searchlight Pictures, formerly Fox Searchlight (its name changed when it was bought by Disney), is a speciality studio known for such recent prestige pictures as "The Eyes of Tammy Faye," "The French Dispatch" and the documentary "Summer of Soul."

"“The Supremes At Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat” will join a crowded slate of productions currently filming in the Wilmington area.

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Current productions include: the second season of Amazon teen drama “The Summer I Turned Pretty”; the second season of Fox TV comedy “Welcome To Flatch”; independent film “Eric LaRue," which takes on the topic of gun violence and is the directorial debut of Oscar-nominated actor Michael Shannon; and "Appendage," a feature-length horror/fashion movie based on writer-director Anna Zlokovic's Sundance Film Festival short of the same title that stars Hadley Robinson (HBO Max's "Winning Time").

Contact John Staton at 910-343-2343 or John.Staton@StarNewsOnline.com. 

This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: The Supremes At Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat set to film in Wilmington NC