Is Fayette

County the next New York City? The answer might be yes when you consider

that Fayette County is being used for the filming of its second major

motion picture in less than a year.

Last year,

Reese Witherspoon was in town filming "Sweet Home Alabama,"

which is due in theaters in early September. This year, Oscar winner Cuba

Gooding Jr. is in town, along with Beyonce Knowles, Rue McClanahan and

others, filming "The Fighting Temptations." The film deals with

a struggling executive, played by Gooding Jr., who comes south to collect

an inheritance but finds out he must form a successful gospel group before

he can collect a dime of it.

The filming

is due to hit the county on Sept. 9 at Starr's Mill, the mill not the

high school. The area will be used to film a baptism scene and the production

company will paint and restore the pedestrian bridge. They are currently

filming in Atlanta and Gooding Jr. has been spotted all over the Atlanta

area recently. They will also be filming in Senoia at Senoia United Methodist

Church.

Film companies

are coming south with more regularity as the weather is usually better

for longer in the year and there is a wide variety of areas that can look

like other areas throughout the state.

Filming for

"The Fighting Temptations" will continue through October.