Casey Affleck Sports ‘The Shirt Shop’ Gear in New Movie
Days after a movie filmed almost entirely at Tuscaloosa's Lake Nicol premiered on Netflix, the Druid City was back on the big screen in a new Amazon Prime film.
This time the city is represented through a shirt familiar to any Tuscaloosa native -- in Amazon's new movie, 'Our Friend,' Academy Award-winner Casey Affleck sports a navy long-sleeved shirt that features 'The Shirt Shop' elephant on the front.
Laura Spurlin, who co-owns and operates the store with her husband Charles, said the store was approached by movie producers asking for permission to use the shirt in the movie back in 2019, but never thought it would actually make an appearance in the film.
"[About] two weeks ago, people started sending sending me screenshots and then I watched the trailer and they showed it," Spurlin said. "Then they have an Instagram page and on the page they have still shots from the movie and there's a really good one of Casey Affleck wearing it. Seeing all that was crazy."
Spurlin said that they have always sold shirt with the elephant in the front and the popular Shirt Shop oval logo on the back, but they haven't sold in navy for a few seasons. Lately, though, customers have been calling the store placing orders of the long-sleeved Affleck can be seen wearing in the movie.
Due to the demand, the downtown store at the corner of Greensboro Avenue and 6th Street has created a similar rendition of the shirt.
The movie follows the story of Matthew Teague and his wife Nicole, who battled ovarian cancer.
Spurlin said the store is naming the new shirt "The Nicole"in her honor and will donate a portion of the proceeds made by the shirt to the Foundation for Women’s Cancer.
Bethany Triplett, an employee at The Shirt Shop, said the idea to donate to the nonprofit organization was one that she and Spurlin had almost simultaneously.
"We already knew that we were gonna get a little bit of response from it just because our brand is a known brand that people would see it and [recognize] it," Triplett said. "So we thought, how can we let people see this? And how can we help? ...Obviously we're both women, so women's health is important to both of us."
For more information about the shirt or to purchase one online, check out The Shirt Shop website.
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