Kurt Russell makes acting appearance in county

On a hot Tuesday afternoon, Hollywood actor Kurt Russell could be seen driving down the old dirt roads in the heart of the Sims Community.

Russell was there on official movie business, filming his latest, “The Rivals of Amziah King’’ but his charm was present to everyone who encountered him on Sand Mountain.

Marshall County Sheriff, Phil Sims, said he was first contacted Monday afternoon by a member of the film crew. They were scouting locations across the area.

“He had gotten my number from Susan Moore Police Chief, Joey Skaggs. They had been around the Blount County area filming with Matthew McConaughey a little bit ago and now they wanted to film around Boaz,” Sheriff Sims said. “The more I talked to him, he wanted to see if someone had a dump truck with dirt. They had a chase scene and they wanted to have dust. They also wanted a place that had corn on each side. I thought, “I know just the person to call.”

Sims then called his cousin, Marshall County Commissioner for District #3, Lee Sims.

“I knew that was his area and he would know someone with a dump truck.”

Commissioner Sims said he at first thought it was a prank phone call.

“A Miami number called, and it was a guy named Pedro,” Sims said of the call. “He said, Hey Commissioner, we’re looking for a road to put some dirt on. I thought, who is this?”

After the initial shock, Commissioner Sims and the film scout went over roads that would be the perfect place for the shot.

“They were first going to a road close to Mount Hebron and I said we didn’t need to put dirt on a road if you just need dust. When they said they wanted corn and both sides, I said, “I have your road and it is ready to go.”

The final destination was over by Teal Road in the Pleasant Grove Community.

“We call it Cry Baby Holler,” Commissioner Sims continued. “I sent the guy a ping of where it was and he met me over there in less than 20 minutes. He looked at it, called the other producer and finally made a decision later that night.”

Sims says after he was notified that the location in his District would be used as the filming location, he arrived on set the next morning at 6:30 a.m.

Both the Sims boys’ spent most of the morning with the actor while he filmed.

Sheriff Sims was asked if four of his off-duty deputies could handle security and traffic, so he followed them out to the location.

“Lee and I escorted the crew to where the road was, and Kurt Russell was driving behind us. It was pretty cool,” Sims said. “He was very nice. Very genuine. He shook my deputies’ hands and thanked them for being there.”

Commissioner Sims said he talked to Russell during downtime of filming.

“I didn’t ask for a picture or an autograph, I just talked to him like two men,” he said. “We have an old wooden bridge on the road they were filming at. The edges are rotten, but the bridge is pretty strong. It’s pretty stout. I told him (Russell) to go ahead and cross it, just stay in the middle. He didn’t hesitate, he just took off.”