Albany native featured in ‘The Blind Side’ film

ATLANTA — Only six months after graduating from Georgia Southern University, Beau Turpin has yet another movie role under his belt.

The 24-year-old Albany native is currently in the Warner Bros. film, “The Blind Side,” which was shot in Atlanta and opens in theaters nationwide today.

In the movie, which also stars Sandra Bullock, Tim McGraw, Quinton Aaron and Kathy Bates, Turpin plays the part of an assistant high school football coach.

But that wasn’t his only job on the film, in which the game of pigskin is a key element. In fact, the on-screen part came after Turpin was hired to work behind the scenes.

“I ended up being a football coordinator for the film,” Turpin said, explaining that he also served as production coordinator for the project. “After that, they put me in as assistant coach in the movie.”

Working behind the scenes afforded Turpin the opportunity to cast a Sylvester cousin in a football scene, as well as cast his parents, sister and close friend in the football stands.

“We got to sit beside Sandra Bullock and Tim McGraw,” said Turpin’s mother, Lisa. “It was fun for all of us.”

“And they let me put my sister in a classroom scene,” he said, explaining that Alexa Turpin appears in the background in the movie’s trailer.

It turns out Turpin’s experience playing football at Deerfield-Windsor School made him ideal for his positions on “The Blind Side.”

“I was captain of the team in high school,” he said.

Turpin’s experience on previous football-themed movies was a big benefit, too.

“When I was 18, I went out to Texas to be in ‘We Are Marshall,'” he said.

Plus, Turpin also worked as a stunt double on the 2005 film, “Friday Night Lights.”

Those experiences helped Turpin, as football coordinator on the set of “The Blind Side” this summer, make the game look authentic, as did his extracurricular activities as a student at Georgia Southern.

“My regional, national and local experience of serving in leadership positions in my fraternity during college made it easy for me to coordinate the ages of the football players in the movie,” he said. “Their ages ranged from 18-26.”

Now that he’s completed “The Blind Side,” Turpin is already working on other projects being filmed in Georgia, including a role in “Conspirator,” directed by Robert Redford, which is being filmed in Savannah.

“It’s a period piece set in 1865,” Turpin said of the, “just post-Civil War.”

Plus, he’s working behind the scenes on another movie being filmed in Atlanta.

“I’m a production assistant on Ice Cube’s ‘The Lottery Ticket,” he said.

One reason Turpin has been able to be part of such notable projects is the fact that he’s based in Georgia, where many Hollywood projects are actually filming.

“You can film just about any scene from a movie in Georgia,” the Atlanta resident said. “From old Colonial houses to beach scenes. It’s amazing how diverse the landscape of the state is.”

And filmmakers can take advantage of the state’s scenery while saving money.

“In February 2008, Gov. Sonny Perdue issued a 30-percent tax rebate incentive for filmmakers to come to Georgia,” Turpin said, explaining the benefit of the incentive to the state. “When a movie comes to an area to film, it opens up 300 new jobs there.”

As someone trying to make it in the movie business, Turpin is taking advantage of every opportunity he can. Plus, his locale gives him an advantage over fellow actors heading to Los Angeles.

“In L.A., I’d be an extremely small fish in a huge pond,” he said. “But I’ve got my foot in the door, hopefully.”

Turpin’s aspirations are to gain all the experience he can both in front of and behind the camera.

“My end goal is to write, direct and produce,” he said, explaining that he’s currently in the process of writing his second script.

For now, Turpin is pleased with the outcome of his work on “The Blind Side.”

“The movie turned out really well,” he said of the film that also includes appearances by such well-known college football coaches as Phillip Fulmer, Tommy Tuberville and Nick Saban.

With that in mind, Turpin believes “The Blind Side” has something for everyone.

“It’s heartwarming, but all the guys can go and see the sports aspect of it,” he said.