Reported by: Michael D. Sullivan
Email: msullivan@wjcl.com
Our summer love affair with Miley Cyrus is finally in the books with Tybee playing the role of the one who stayed behind while Miley tearfully crossed the bridge. Miley was real with us. She did not star on our sand as a petulant teenage throb too intent on her close-ups and moaning about her 10 hour days. There was no public pouting. No angry shouting down episodes in front of her entourage or fans.
This was all about hugs and kisses.
No one talked about her being a snob or a pre-twenty snot or so mushy in love with her press clippings. Rather, she was the one singing to the locals and tourists at Stingray’s and stuffing down pizza at Huc A Poos. She was the one twittering messages day and night talking about Tybee being the real deal. She was the big eyed kid with her mom and daddy staying at a temporary home on the Back River making a movie on Tybee. Maybe it was just that simple. Miley could be our best pallie or our enchanted daughter. Take your pick.
She waved with a giggle. We responded in same.
And she is the one we’ll miss.
Could be her story was all charted in the first picture we aired on WJCL/FOX28 with Miley and Nick Jonas cuddled on a jet ski in the Big Deep with summer in her hair. From there to shots and stories of Miley on the pier, Miley on the beach, Miley in the North Beach Grill, Miley being stalked, Miley on Skidaway Island, Miley in her Sam Adam’s beach house, Miley, Miley, Miley. I’m sure there are enough personal pictures you shot to prove you were there for your personal Tybee Nation Lollapalooza experience of 2009.
No one lovingly talked this way about Christina Applegate when she was here to film an Italian spaghetti drama that was released in Europe. We didn’t get a sense of her. She was to be stared at…pointed at. She did not know Tybee or really take the time to know us. We did not envelop her and she did not squeeze up to us. No presence. She came and she left.
Maybe as island folk it is easier to accept the movie crowd because Sandy Bullock spends time here at her beach home as well as on her Vespa when not in Austin, Texas. And there is always John Mellencamp to spot at Huc A Poos wolfing his slice.
I can report that I flew a kite with Robert Downey, Jr on the beach near 18th Street in the mid- 90’s and not even draw a gasp.
There continue to be John Travolta sightings. He gets his personal Gulf Stream jet serviced here. And he was said to be in our midst while his wife Kelly Preston played Miley’s mom in ‘THE LAST SONG. ‘There are mentioned Tom Hank’s rumors that he is filming in our area in the winter/spring of 2010. It never ends.
We see them as people first who earned their privacy in front of us on the big screen and need their Tybee time in peace.
About covering Miley, well, it was a chess game before the stalking episodes and a mission afterwards.
The Disney folks called the movie a “closed set.” Ever hear of anything closed on Tybee?
The publicist we dealt with this summer played a sometimes grumpy big sister guarding role for Miley and that meant we listened more to the Tybee tom-tom to get our leads as well as Twitter, Facebook, Hollywood sources, breathless calls to the newsroom, and our own stakeouts to win the day. Reporters Jennifer Beale, Chris Justus, and our talented photojournalists caught the magic as well as met the deadline craziness of covering Miley stories that we aired locally, nationally, and worldwide. Our website, thecoastalsource.com, was bulging with Miley talk and folks responding. She even had her own page. The bad guy stalker went to jail and serenity returned. Kinda.
Someone yelled at me blathering I was a creepy paparazzi and I yelled back that I can’t even spell it.
Alas. After months of chasing Billy Ray Cyrus, we just could not connect with him to go fishing with Captain Judy and our Big Guy, Frank Sulkowski. That would have been something to see.
If Miley Cyrus can be captured in a moment as her career soars, let it be on Tybee Island. This movie is said to be a major dramatic sea change role from Hanna Montana. This movie is about a new Miley.
Can we dig her growing up?
The fit is solid. The movie is set for a Jan-Feb release and a noise making publicity tour that just has to include Tybee. Got that Ms. Publicist? And how about personally inviting us to L-A for the initial movie shilling? You know Miley’s driver stayed in the condo building where Chris Justus lives and Miley wants him there! Take note.
Now it is Robert Redford’s turn as he films ‘THE CONSPIRATOR’ in Savannah and Tybee. Look for that real soon. I imagine his fans will be a bit older and still capable of a step or two chasing autographs and exclusive Kodak’s. Have at it. Mid-August rumors point to Harrison Ford and Sally field joining the Redford posse in the movie.
Does anyone know that Robert Redford is short?
