Shubhabrata Dutta
Written and directed by Tyler Perry, Netflix’s ‘Straw’ is a thriller drama with an emotionally devastated single mother at its center. Janiyah has been struggling hard to make a living for her ill daughter and herself. However, things only seem to get worse with time as she gets robbed of the money required for her daughter’s treatment and is evicted as well. With no place to call home, she ends up taking a drastic step to get the money she requires.
She walks into a bank with a gun seemingly to cash a cheque. Unfortunately, the act doesn’t go down well with the workers, and soon the whole scenario turns into a hostage situation. The police authorities are alerted, and all but a few fail to realize why Janiyah is doing what she is doing. She is a helpless mother who needs to be heard. The world of ‘Straw’ revolves around Janiyah, and the visuals represent the walls closing in on her and what she does to escape.
Straw Filming Locations
‘Straw’ was filmed entirely in Atlanta, Georgia. Principal photography reportedly began towards the end of May 2024 and continued for almost a month before wrapping up by the end of June the same year. Despite the short filming duration, it was the team effort that ensured that no stones were left unturned to record all the footage as planned. Taraji P. Henson, who plays Janiyah, shot her part in four days, a task that required a lot of pre-planning and was executed in a quick and controlled manner.
Atlanta, Georgia
The production team of ‘Straw’ shot the entire film in Atlanta, which is located in Georgia’s Fulton County. For most of the indoor scenes, the team used the stages of Tyler Perry Studios at 315 Deshler Street. The studio is one of the largest of its kind in America and boasts a 330-acre lot with 12 sound stages, and standing sets, including a bank, which may have been used for the movie, a police station, a prison yard, a courtroom, residential blocks, the White House, and more.
Talking about her experience working with Tyler Perry, Taraji P. Henson, who plays Janiyah, told Decider how he is “very nurturing. He gives you all the space in the room you need. How I work with my instrument is, if I can’t remember a line, or if I drop a line, or if I forget where I am in these big monologues, what I love about him, and the way I work, is that I let it breathe. I don’t go, ‘Cut! I forgot the line!’ I stay in the moment.” When asked about the pressure of pulling off monologues in as less takes as possible, she stated, “No one’s rushing me to do this monologue, because I supposedly have hostages. So where are they going? All we have is time. I take my time, I stay in the moment, and I let the words find me. Oftentimes, when somebody is broken, sometimes they can’t find the words. I rely on that. I allow myself to be in the moment, and I just drop in.”
Some of Perry’s movies and shows that have utilized the studio for their backdrops are ‘Duplicity,’ ‘She the People,’ ‘Beauty in Black,’ ‘The Oval,’ ‘All the Queen’s Men,’ and ‘Sistas.’ The crew used the exterior of the Prime Integrative Health building at 2891 Lakewood Avenue as the bank’s exterior. The parking lot right next to the building and the area nearby were used to capture wide shots and establishing shots.
Atlanta is known as the Hollywood of the South and is home to numerous big production studios that offer top-tier facilities, equipment, and crew. While the urban neighborhoods and skyscrapers are a feast for the eyes, tourists can behold landmarks and man-made marvels like the Georgia State Capitol, the World of Coca-Cola, Centennial Olympic Park, and the Mercedes-Benz Stadium. If you are into nature, the city offers an array of over 340 parks and natural reserves, including the iconic Piedmont Park, Shirley Clarke Franklin Park, Grant Park, Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area, and the Atlanta Botanical Garden.
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