Director Grant Singer made his debut as a feature film director with the recently released crime thriller called Reptile. The movie got to premiere first at the Toronto International Film Festival this year, but failed to leave a lasting impression on critics and fans, with many admitting that it felt underwhelming despite its grand cast.
With Benicio Del Toro in the main role of Tom Nichols, Justin Timberlake as Will Grady, Alicia Silverstone as Judy Nichols, Michael Carmen Pitt as Eli Phillips, Karl Glusman as Sam Gifford, Matilda Lutz as the victim in the film, alongside many others in different roles, the movie was finally released on Netflix on September 29th, 2023.
Grant Singer and Benjamin Brewer both were revealed to have worked on Reptile’s story, which turned out to be average at best. It follows the story of the murder investigation of a young real estate agent who turns up dead after being brutally murdered by someone.
The film is set in Scarborough, Maine, and gets our lead detective working on the case, completely hooked on the mystery behind the murder, causing him to decide to get to the bottom of it all, only to discover that there is more to the case than meets the eye.
The murder case is not entirely what it seems, and Tom Nichols wishes to see the end, breaking the illusions of his life in the process. The film was released on the streaming platform Netflix for fans to stream, but it did not impress the bunch.
It tries to experiment with its plot, but it does not work out well for Reptile. The movie feels you leave unsatisfied because of its unfinished characters, as it fails to wrap up their storyarcs gracefully, leaving them hanging loosely.
The movie is not utterly terrible still, as it still manages to be a decent murder mystery, just not all that memorable. The actors, especially Alicia Silverstone and Benicio Del Toro, have done an amazing job of portraying their characters, making the movie bearable.
While the movie may not have been thoroughly impressive, there is no harm in finding out more about its filming locations, so let us get into all the spots the actors in this movie visited.
Reptile Filming Locations
Atlanta, Georgia
While the film’s plot is said to be based in Scarborough, Maine, the actual shoot was primarily done in Georgia, a state that has become a hub for filmmakers due to its concessions on tax credits and low cost of filming. It is not surprising that a mid-budget film such as Reptile was also filmed in the state of Georgia.
Specifically, the actors and crew spent their time shooting mainly in and around parts of Atlanta, Georgia. Though Scarborough is a real place, the crew spent their time shooting in Atlanta from August 2021 to November 2021.
Main locations that can be spotted in the film include the Peachtree Battle Alliance Neighborhood for filming scenes that required a house, Cabernet Steakhouse featured in the film whenever the cast was supposed to be at an eating spot, the Inn situated at the Stone Mountain Park was used in the film right at its beginning for Will Grady’s conference scene, and the Westview Abbey Mausoleum was used to film the funeral scene.
The Bigelow’s nightclub was spotted in the film and was used to film the scene where our detective, Tom Nichols, and Dan Cleary interviewed the murder victim’s best friend, Renee. Another location, located just outside of Atlanta but still within the perimeters of Georgia, used in the film Reptile, was Marietta, a city in the state.
This location was also used heavily in the film, including the Manley Firm Law Offices, which was turned into the Grady Real Estate office for the film. This place had meaning in the film, making it an important location.
Apart from these locations, the producers confirmed that they had done some additional shoots in New England, though what locations were used exactly was not revealed.
