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    • Hulu’s ‘The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat’ features Wilmington
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    Hulu’s ‘The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat’ features Wilmington

    Vaseline Posted on

    A 2022 film set in Wilmington garnered a lot of attention online and rave reviews this past weekend, with the film set in several locations around the region.

    Based on the best-selling novel by Edward Kelsey Moore, “The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat” is an era-spanning film about a trio of women (nicknamed The Supremes, after the singing group) who have been best friends their entire lives. The film, from Disney’s Searchlight Pictures studio, widely known for so-called “prestige” pictures, did not receive a theatrical release, but premiered on the Hulu streaming service on August 23.

    The mostly Black cast includes Oscar nominee Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor (“King Richard”) as the bold, down-to-earth Odette; Emmy nominee Sanaa Lathan (“Love and Basketball”) as the beautiful, damaged Barbara Jean; Emmy winner Uzo Aduba (“Orange is the New Black,” the Southport-set film “Greedy People”) as the artistic “dork” Clarice; Mekhi Phifer (“8 Mile”) as Odette’s mild-mannered police officer husband James; Vondie Curtis Hall (“Chicago Hope”) as Barbara Jeans’ wealthy older husband; and Russell Hornsby (“The Hate U Give,” “Fences”) as Clarice’s cheating wife.

    The three friends are played in their teenage years by Kyanna Simone, Abigail Achiri and Tati Gabrielle.

    Tiny Mabry, whose acclaimed independent drama “Mississippi Damned” screened in Wilmington at the 2009 Cucalorus Film Festival, directs from a screenplay by Cee Marcellus and Tina Mabry.

    “The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat” was chosen by The New York Times as one of “10 New Movies Our Critics Are Talking About This Week,” calling the film “funny, tear-jerking, deep-fried decadence” that “is more than satisfying when you’re in the mood to treat yourself.”

    Reviews generally praised the film’s acting and “glaring period details.” The film is set in 1968, when the main characters are in high school, and in 1998, with a few scenes set in the 1950s. At the same time, criticism was leveled at the film’s more outrageous plot twists and the changes to soap opera-style melodrama, particularly in the final act.

    The film’s intended audience generally seemed to like it, as evidenced by a typical tweet on social media platform X, which promised that “you will laugh, cry and be amazed.”

    The film also received a lot of press attention due to its flashy red carpet premiere in Los Angeles.

    Wilmington is particularly well represented in “The Supremes at Earl’s,” a venue-packed neighborhood in the Port City.

    The most prominent is Rx Chicken and Oysters on Castle Street and Fifth Avenue, which has been converted into the film’s eponymous restaurant. Several scenes in Rx sport a variety of looks — from the ’60s to the ’90s, depending on the era the scene is set in — and the dance sequences there were choreographed by Kevin Lee-y Green of Wilmington’s Techmoja Dance & Theatre Co.

    The restaurant’s windows overlook Castle Street, which also features several scenes, including one with the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge in the background, in which racist white people attempt to run over some of the film’s black characters.

    Greenfield Lake also pops up in more than one scene, including one set on the so-called “alligator bridge.” The Rusty Nail dive bar on South Fifth Avenue adds to its long list of film and TV credits by playing a strip club. And the historic Thalian Hall is the beautifully filmed location of a piano concerto played by Aduba and Achiri’s character, Clarice. (The film’s piano-heavy soundtrack reflects the instrument she plays.)

    A house on the corner of Fourth and Orange Streets in downtown Wilmington serves as the home of Big Earl (Tony Winters), owner of the eponymous restaurant in the film. Other locations where scenes take place include 309 Kenwood Ave., 103 Forest Hills Drive and 714 Market St.

    The interior of St. James Episcopal Church on the corner of Third and Market Streets is reminiscent of a university setting in a scene near the end of the film.

    Vaseline
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