Some stories are just too good not to be told! Take that of Michiganite Jerry Selbee, for example, who, upon retiring in 2003, discovered a mathematical anomaly in a local lottery’s roll-down game that all but guaranteed wins, leading him and his wife, Marge, to become professional lottery players for nearly a decade, earning millions of dollars and revitalizing their small community along the way. Inspirational from start to finish, the couple’s fantastical journey, of course, went viral, first popping up as the subject of a series of Boston Globe articles in 2011. Then came a lengthy Huffington Post profile in 2018. And now the heartwarming tale has hit the streamers in the form of a Paramount+ original movie titled “Jerry and Marge Go Large,” starring Bryan Cranston and Annette Bening in the lead roles.
The film faithfully chronicles the actual details of the Selbees’ lottery venture, though a handful of plot points were changed to streamline the action for the screen, including shifting the time period to the present day and consolidating Jerry and Marge’s large family from six children and 14 grandchildren to two and one, respectively. The storyline was also greatly compressed. In truth, the couple’s lottery endeavor took place over an incredible nine years, the latter six of which (following Michigan’s phase-out of the roll-down game) saw the two driving more than 900 miles back and forth across state lines to Massachusetts about once every two months to purchase tickets. In all, the enterprise garnered Jerry, Marge and their friends an incredible $26 million in winnings!
A feel-good movie through and through, “Jerry and Marge Go Large” came at the perfect time. As director David Frankel, who was also behind such hits as “The Devil Wears Prada” and “Marley & Me,” told the Los Angeles Times, “The idea of two people over 60 finding a new adventure that reinvigorated their romance and their town seemed like the perfect antidote to the pandemic. That earnestness was important. They’re making money, which in many other contexts is the root of all evil. But here, it’s doing a lot of good.”
Set in the Selbees’ hometown of Evart (which boasts a population of only 1,700), the movie was shot in its entirety in the Atlanta, Georgia region, with several area suburbs blending together to stand in for the small hamlet.
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Image Credit: Paramount+ Jerry and Marge’s home, a charming traditional with a wraparound porch that figures at the heart of the story, can be found about 20 miles northeast of Atlanta at 378 N. Peachtree St. in the Gwinnett County suburb of Norcross. Featuring three bedrooms and one bath in 2,370 square feet, the dwelling last changed hands in 1991. As such, MLS images are non-existent. But, as noted in a behind-the-scenes featurette, no sets were built for the “Jerry and Marge” shoot, so audiences can catch glimpses of the property’s actual interior while viewing the film, along with the backyard, driveway and detached garage, where the ever-pragmatic Jerry stored his millions upon millions of losing lottery tickets, held onto, of course, for tax purposes. (Please remember this is a private home. Do not trespass or bother the residents or the property in any way.)
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Image Credit: Paramount+ About 40 miles southeast in Walton County, the city of Social Circle, aka “Georgia’s Greatest Little Town,” was pegged to play downtown Evart. As local lore has it, the burg’s unique moniker was derived thanks to a visitor from long ago. According to “The Origins of Unusual Place Names,” “A group of congenial natives were congregating around a well in the center of the community, enjoying a drink of water. The men saw a stranger happening by, and he was invited to join the group. Apparently not accustomed to such hospitality, the stranger is said to have exclaimed: ‘Well, this certainly is a social circle.’” And the rest is history.
During pre-production, Frankel and his team scouted more than half a dozen Georgia suburbs looking for a suitable spot to portray Evart before “finally stumbling” on “the one-stoplight town,” which proved “a perfect fit.” As shown onscreen, the hamlet is very reminiscent in its look, feel and layout to that of Schitt’s Creek, the city at the center of the eponymous Pop TV series, with most of the spots used situated along one tiny downtown strip.
Riverside Bookstore, where Jerry hosts his GS Investment Strategies shareholder meetings, can be found at 128 S. Cherokee Rd., while Steve Woods’ (Larry Wilmore) CPA/travel agency office is at 124 S. Cherokee, the pink-doored ice cream shop is 145 S. Cherokee, and Jerry’s local bank is the Pinnacle Bank outpost at 112 N. Cherokee.
Production designer Russell Barnes was tasked with both distressing the block for the beginning scenes in which Evart is shown in a state of economic downturn and then later sprucing it up as the Selbees and their friends pour money into the community. According to producer Amy Baer, “They let us essentially take over their main street for a week. The first thing we did was dress down the town because we needed to make it look dilapidated so that by the end of the movie, we can dress it up and show how everything is improved.” The improvement process included repainting exteriors, installing colorful awnings over front windows and outfitting the sidewalk with vibrant foliage.
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Image Credit: Paramount+ Leon’s Gas & Go, where Jerry grabs his daily coffee and initially discovers the loophole in the roll-down game, is another Social Circle location. In reality, it’s the Pump & Go service station, located just down the street from the main storefronts used at 109 N. Cherokee Rd. At the time of the shoot, the site “wasn’t really functioning,” according to location manager Matt Gordon. So the production team “took it over and expanded it and made it more of a convenience store with a coffee area. The art department really brought it to life.” Sadly, in looking at Google Street View, it appears the expansions installed by the crew were only temporary and dismantled as soon as filming wrapped.
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Image Credit: Paramount+ The Evart Diner, where Jerry and his friends regularly converge, is Atlanta’s famed Silver Skillet at 200 14th St. NW, a local stalwart that has been slinging traditional southern fare to hungry patrons since 1956! Not only is the eatery a longtime staple of the ATL food scene, but an onscreen stalwart, as well, having appeared in countless productions over its 66-year history, including “Taken 3,” “Remember the Titans,” “Anchorman 2,” “I’ll Fly Away” and “Trouble with the Curve.” Another claim to fame? The diner’s Lemon Ice Box Pie (“made the old-fashioned way”) has been deemed one of the 5 Best Pies in the USA by Life magazine and one of the Top 100 Foods in the World by Saveur!
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Image Credit: Paramount+ Before discovering the wonders of playing the lottery, Jerry disastrously attempts to launch his new fishing boat, a retirement present from his family, at the ramp at Stone Mountain Park, located at the southern end of Stone Mountain Lake. The picturesque 3,200-acre park, situated about 15 miles east of Atlanta in DeKalb County, is “the most visited tourist site in the state of Georgia,” according to Wikipedia, and boasts foliage that seamlessly doubled for Michigan onscreen.
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Image Credit: Paramount+ The supposed rural Massachusetts-area “Liquor Hut” run by Billy (Rainn Wilson), where Jerry and Marge head to buy lottery tickets once Michigan phases out the roll-down game, is W. D. Miller’s Store at 3099 GA-155 N in McDonough, about 30 miles southeast of Atlanta. The shop, owned and operated by the same family since 1932, is no stranger to the screen, having also appeared in the 2006 sports drama “We Are Marshall” and the 2017 dramedy “The Leisure Seeker.” Between prep work and filming, the “Jerry and Marge” production team spent an entire month on the premises. Following the shoot’s wrap in September 2021, Mark Miller, the founder’s grandson who runs the site today, reported on Instagram that the store was “back together and the cleanest it’s been since 1952!”
In real life, the stop-and-shop sells automotive supplies, tools, snacks and sodas – but not liquor and beer as depicted in the movie. The changeover had Mark humorously claiming, “If you knew my grandfather, David Miller, or my dad, Herman Miller, you would know that if they came back to life and saw these signs and this merchandise, they would both drop dead of heart attacks.”
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Image Credit: Paramount+ The no-frills Pick and Shovel Motel, the Selbees’ lodging of choice while in “Massachusetts,” is actually the Cheshire Motor Inn located at 1865 Cheshire Bridge Rd. NE in Atlanta. The “Jerry and Marge” team made use of the property’s exterior, installing large neon signage and a section of foliage out front, as well as the interior of a room. According to Barnes, “We just reverse engineered what we needed in there with the wallpaper, the tongue and groove, the pine and then the motel itself brought its own inherent level of grime, as well.” The Cheshire is also no stranger to the screen, popping up in such varied productions as “Identity Thief,” “Ozark,” “American Made,” “The Mule,” “Hillbilly Elegy,” and “A Walk in the Woods.”
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Image Credit: Paramount+ Also in Atlanta is Home Grown restaurant, which plays The Pioneer Kitchen, a secondary Massachusetts establishment that Jerry utilizes to purchase tickets as his lottery enterprise grows larger and larger. Located at 968 Memorial Dr. SE, the breakfast and lunch spot is described per its official website as a “next-gen meat-and-three,” serving up “locally grown produce,” “fresh ingredients,” and “a tasty meal that delights your taste buds without clogging your arteries” at a “SUPER ridiculous low price.”
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Image Credit: Paramount+ Peachtree Center, a massive mixed-use complex in downtown Atlanta comprised of 2.3 million square feet of office space, three hotels and more than 50 restaurants and shops, stands in for the Massachusetts State Lottery Headquarters, where Boston Globe reporter Maya Jordan (Tracie Thoms) attempts to investigate the Selbees’ winnings mid-film.
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Image Credit: Paramount+ Harvard University, where Jerry and Marge’s college-age nemesis, Tyler (Uly Schlesinger), attends classes and comes up with his own lottery-playing scheme, is a mix of two different Georgia schools. Exteriors were shot at Agnes Scott College in Decatur (an oft-filmed women’s liberal arts institution most famous for portraying Windsor College in “Scream 2”), while interiors were lensed at Oglethorpe University, a small private facility in Brookhaven. The Cambridge street where Tyler dispatches his dormmates to purchase lottery tickets towards the end of the film is actually the 90 block of Peachtree Pl. NE in Midtown Atlanta.
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Image Credit: Paramount+ It’s back to Norcross for the scene involving Bill finally bidding adieu to his wife, Candace (K.D. O’Hair) – but holding onto his share of GS Investment Strategies – which took place at the Tomlinson Law Office located just half a mile southwest of the Selbee home at 15 S. Peachtree St.
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Image Credit: Paramount+ The amphitheater that Jerry, Marge and their friends spend much of the movie trying to revitalize in the hopes of bringing back Evart’s annual jazz festival is also a Norcross locale. Situated just down the street from Bill’s divorce lawyer’s office, the bandshell can be found at the southern end of Thrasher Park, a small oasis consisting of a dining area with picnic tables, a playground, a gazebo, pathways, stretches of grass and, of course, a large wooden arena. It is the latter that the film makes use of. As Barnes explains in a behind-the-scenes featurette, the production team brought in a fallen tree and all manner of detritus to make the structure appear dilapidated in the first part of the movie. By the film’s end, the venue has been transformed into a wonderland of twinkle lights, flowers and lanterns – a mission accomplished thanks to Jerry and Marge’s ingenuity and a little bit of Hollywood magic!