This producer brought his movie set to Columbus. Now he’s back with family’s ice cream

Producer Stratton Leopold has been in the film business for more than 40 years, but he’s been in the ice cream business even longer.

And now he’s joining those two industries in Columbus as he prepares to release a movie, The Neon Highway, that was partially filmed in the city and brings Leopold’s Ice Cream to the historic Goetchius House.

Leopold’s Ice Cream was founded in Savannah by Stratton’s father, Peter, and his uncle, George. The youngest of three children, Stratton grew up learning the family business before leaving to pursue his passion in the film industry.

Now with almost 60 film and television credits on IMDB that include Mission: Impossible III and The General’s Daughter, Stratton has found a balance between running his family’s business and continuing to make films.

The Ledger-Enquirer spoke with Stratton about bringing Leopold’s Ice Cream to Columbus, filming The Neon Highway and the growth of the film industry in Georgia.

The answers have been edited for clarity and length.

Q: What should people know about the Neon Highway?

A: Columbus actually stood in for the area around Nashville. It’s hilly, and it worked out. It’s a country music-themed picture. Now that the strike is over, it’ll be released in theaters on the first of March.

It stars Beau Bridges. Lee Brice is in it, if you follow country music. And Pam Tillis is in it. They were both here in Columbus.

We’ll premiere on the 27th of February. It’ll be the first of March in the theaters.

Q: What was it like filming in Columbus?

A: It was good. The populace here, and people, were very, very cooperative.

The couple of scenes in the film that are in Nashville are interiors, so that’s easy to do here.

A city like Columbus, where you have the look of it outside. Where you have cobbled streets, that’s just wonderful. As compared to the modern part, which is out there as well, in walking distance.

Frankly, that’s great.

Q: Who is the audience for The Neon Highway?

A: Before, we thought the audience would probably be adults over 40. We did a test screening in Nashville at Belmont University, and the students loved it. It surprised us. We had no idea.

So, the younger crowd, which totally surprised us, likes it. We’re very pleased, obviously.

Q: Tell us about the country music featured in the film.

A: A man named Dallas Davidson, who’s a well-known songwriter from Middle Georgia, wrote the theme song for the picture.

But much of the rest of the music was supplied by a man named Mike Curb. He was actually born in Savannah, went to LA as an infant, moved to Nashville probably 35 years ago and started signing every artist, singer and songwriter he could.

Basically a wonderful man, very generous man. He controls, in many ways, country music.

Q: How does Columbus compare to filming in other Georgia cities?

A: It’s location driven. Savannah — the locations are great and it has the Atlantic Ocean right there.

But Atlanta has a crew base. Atlanta has the equipment. Atlanta has all the infrastructure, and it one flight from Los Angeles. And that’s important.

Savannah’s two flights (from Los Angeles). It’s a short drive to Columbus, but you can’t fly direct.

I think Columbus will have the same challenges that Savannah has because I’m sure the crew base here is not large. But you’re a lot closer to the crew base than Savannah is.

What Savannah did, and you have a similar thing here, is an (incentive) to help mitigate the added cost of shooting there as opposed to Atlanta.

The flip side of that is here there’s not much traffic, so that’s an advantage.

Q: What has it been like to see the film industry grow in Georgia?

A: It’s amazing what has happened. It really is. We knew back in the 80’s, before the tax incentive, we were busy then. But never thinking that we would have more films and more studio space in Georgia than in Los Angeles.

I mean that boggles the mind. It’s melancholy in a way for me because probably the happiest time for me in the film business was my early years in Atlanta.

We were kids learning. It was a blast. And then I got with the studio and you find a different side of the film business.

Q: What was it like leaving to pursue a film career?

A: My mother, when I started working in film, for several years would tell her friends ‘he’s off at school somewhere’ because it was not the thing you did.

But when my name started appearing on the screen, then she started talking about it.

My mother was a frustrated physician. She was born in the wrong country at the wrong time. It never would have happened.

My brother, who was quite a bit older than I am, became a physician. However, he wanted to be a singer. So, he didn’t follow his (passion).

It was not something that I was supposed to do. It was a different time. Now, it’s different.

Q: What do you want people to know about your future in film?

A: I’ll keep doing them because there’s a Georgia story I want to tell, and a Louisiana story as well.

When I was at Paramount, I did big action pictures. I did Mission Impossible, and things like that, which is great. But what interests me a lot are stories of change in characters. Now is a chance for us to do that.

Q: What’s it like running Leopold’s Ice Cream and making movies?

A: Ice cream is interesting because you’re predisposed to make people happy. We do a lot of outreach both in the community, and everywhere really, for fundraisers and for the military.

It’s just very satisfying to do that because you love to see the smile on people’s faces. And little kids, their eyes get really big. It’s wonderful.

Q: What should people’s first experience with Leopold’s Ice Cream be like?

A: We do ship nationally, so we have a certain following anyway. Hopefully, they have heard of this (ice cream). If they haven’t, we hope they enjoy it.