Gwinnett Medical Center ready for its close-ups

When film crews look for places for their stars to seek treatment on camera, Gwinnett Medical Center's locations in Duluth and Lawrenceville seem to fit the bill. We hear that a patient room has been named in Warner Brothers' honor after  Gwinnett Medical Center sites served as shooting locations for the films "Hall Pass," starring Owen Wilson and Jenna Fischer, and "Due Date," starring Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey Jr. "Patients, visitors, physicians and staff all enjoyed getting the behind-the-scenes look of how a scene is filmed for a movie," said Lea Bay, administrator for the Duluth location, where "Hall Pass" did some shooting. "The film crew was great to work with and made it their priority to make sure the set up and filming did not negatively impact our primary mission here at GMC-Duluth, which is high-quality patient care." The Lawrenceville location served as a filming location for "Due Date," and along with the exposure the two films brought came a $27,500 donation from Warner Brothers to the hospital system. "With the influx of filmmakers coming to Georgia over the last few years, GMC is enthusiastic about the opportunity to share our location and be a part of the rapidly growing business entertainment industry," hospital spokesperson Andrea Wehrmann told us. Up next, we hear Tyler Perry is looking at Gwinnett Medical Center for scenes in his upcoming film adaptation of "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf."

Buzz in our ear

"Americans tend to conceptualize things in terms of problems that can be solved," crime-reporter-turned-bestselling-author John Sandford told us during an interview the other day. "I'm interested in situations where there's no solution. I'm interested in cases where weird stuff happens." He will be here Monday evening to talk all about weird stuff and solutions that don't exist. He'll read from and sign "Storm Prey," his 20th title in the popular "Prey" series. His appearance, which is part of the Decatur Arts Festival week celebration., starts at 7:15 p.m. in the Decatur Library auditorium. The library is closed that day, so enter through the lower level door in the back. That door will open at 6:30 p.m.