Local movie lovers never have to go too long without seeing Pittsburgh on the big screen.
It’s been a minute though, as the last projects shot in the Steel City that got released to the world were Netflix movie “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” and Amazon film “I’m Your Woman” in December.
Mark your calendars for the next one: “Sweet Girl,” the Jason Momoa-starring action-thriller that used Pittsburgh as a primary filming location in fall 2019 and winter 2020, will be out on Netflix Aug. 20, the streaming service announced earlier this week.
Jason Momoa and Isabela Merced are a father-daughter duo on the run in SWEET GIRL.
— NetflixFilm (@NetflixFilm) April 28, 2021
The global Netflix summer action drops worldwide on August 20—and a first look drops right here, right now ???????? pic.twitter.com/BDa83oBHo5
Netflix also dropped a few seconds of footage from “Sweet Girl” in a recently released sizzle reel highlighting its summer movie slate.
“Sweet Girl” stars Momoa (“Aquaman”) as Cooper and Isabela Merced (“Dora and the Lost City of Gold”) as his daughter Rachel. Here’s what it’s about, according to the IMDB plot description: “A devastated husband vows to bring justice to the people responsible for his wife's death while protecting the only family he has left, his daughter.”
The film’s Pittsburgh shoot was fairly large in scale, with thousands of paid local extras involved and the production on at least once occasion causing traffic jams on the North Side. Momoa himself didn’t exactly keep a low profile and was constantly being spotted around the city, including at a Penguins game surrounded by Pirates and Steelers players, on the sidelines of Heinz Field during a Steelers game and brightening kids’ days during a visit to Children’s Hospital.
The only film or television project currently filming around the Pittsburgh area is the Showtime series “Rust,” starring Jeff Daniels. “Rust” is expected to be joined later this summer by Amazon’s “A League of Their Own” TV series and “What If,” the directorial debut film of Pittsburgh native and movie, TV and Broadway star native Billy Porter.
Joshua Axelrod: jaxelrod@post-gazette.com and Twitter @jaxelburgh.
First Published: April 30, 2021, 8:46 p.m.
