Director X’s reimagining of Gordon Park’s classic 1972 film is set in Atlanta, with Rick Ross’s opulent 12-bedroom estate taking centre stage.The front of Rick Ross’s Atlanta, Georgia, residence.Quantrell D. Colbert took the photo.
Atlanta has produced a remake of Gordon Parks’s legendary 1972 film Super Fly, which is about a cocaine dealer in Harlem, New York. This location was selected for this year’s Superfly by Director X, who also directed Kendrick Lamar’s “King Kunta” and Drake’s “Hotline Bling.” Black culture was centred in Harlem in 1971. In the teaser, he says, “It was actually what Atlanta is now. “As far as style, influence, and culture go, Atlanta’s got the juice right now,” actor Big Boi concurs.
Director X and his team chose Rick Ross’s massive 12-bedroom home, situated on 235 acres in Fayetteville, Georgia, as the base for the Snow Patrol, the rivals of cocaine dealer Youngblood Priest, in order to ensure that the production design matched the environment. Since 2014, Ross has acquired Villa Vittoriosa, also known as “Victory,” which was formerly Evander Holyfield’s estate. For $5.8 million, Ross bought the foreclosed estate designed in the Georgian style. There’s a 350,000-gallon pool and 109 rooms, featuring a theatre that can hold 135 people and a bowling alley.
During filming of 2018’s Superfly.
Graham “Grace” Walker, the production designer for Superflys, transformed the estate into a set for a film. “That really was him.” It was quite rapperesque, if you can call it that, with gold albums and enormous pictures of Rick Ross all over the place. I am referring to hundreds and hundreds of pieces—of trinkets. The dining room table was beautifully arranged with exquisite plates and cutlery. It was really pricey merchandise. He goes on, “You would swear you had just walked onto the Scarface set the moment you walk in the front door.” A terrifying staircase descends both sides. It was pure marble, and you could not help but think, “Oh my God, where are we now?”
An inside look at Rick Ross’s houseThat being said, Director X had not intended for Superfly to have Ross’s look. Walker and Kristen Donaldson, his set decorator, were therefore forced to re-dress the house—and under tight deadlines. “We had three days: one for moving in, one for shooting, and one for leaving. “That might set a record,” remarks Walker. One example of this was the design of a room that was all white, an artistic decision that alluded to the Snow Patrol and their drug-fueled antics.”It was an enormous task,” Walker narrates. The odd thing was that Rick Ross reportedly said, “I want the name of the girl who decorated this house for Superfly,” after we had completed filming and had replaced everything precisely as it had been. She should be my decorator, please!
