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Louisiana still has Hollywood role
2006-09-19
With a star-packed movie filmed in Louisiana opening nationally on Friday, the state's film industry continues to thrive despite the ravages of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, according to state officials and film producers. "All the King's Men," a new adaptation of Robert Penn Warren's 1946 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, finished filming before Hurricane Katrina struck on August 29, 2005, killing 1,500 and leaving 80 percent of New Orleans underwater for weeks. Starring Sean Penn, Kate Winslet, Jude Law, James Gandolfini, New Orleans native Patricia Clarkson and Anthony Hopkins, the film's New Orleans premiere on Saturday drew hundreds to a local auditorium hoping for a glimpse of the actors and a touch of Hollywood glamour. The film industry's survival in Louisiana means even more to the state's economy, which pulled in an estimated $550 million from film and television production last year. "This premiere demonstrated the movie industry's commitment to Louisiana," Louisiana Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu told Reuters. "It sends the message that Louisiana can handle large-scale projects. I think it's gotten back to Hollywood that the infrastructure is intact and we're ready to go." New Orleans and the historic French Quarter have long served as an atmospheric backdrop for Hollywood films. But in recent years the state has built up a film and video industry capable of handling most aspects of big-budget movie and television productions. The business accelerated after 2002, when lawmakers approved a package of tax incentives for companies that film in Louisiana and hire local workers. "Ray," a biography of singer Ray Charles starring Jamie Foxx and released in 2004, was the first big-budget film to take advantage of the tax credits, and the ensuing flurry of activity earned the Crescent City another nickname, "Hollywood South." LITTLE DAMAGE New Orleans-area soundstages and lighting companies largely escaped damage from Katrina's floods, said Alex Schott, executive director of the state's Film and Television Development Agency. Two major films -- "The Reaping," starring Hilary Swank and scheduled for release next year, and "The Last Time," with Michael Keaton and Brendan Fraser -- were filming in the New Orleans area when the storm hit, Schott said, but were able to move production to other parts of the state. Despite labor shortages affecting virtually all businesses in southeast Louisiana, Schott said the film industry's outlook was good, with several upcoming projects, including an adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," starring Brad Pitt, to begin filming in New Orleans this fall. This month, the industry got another boost with the announcement that a New Orleans production company, LIFT Films, had entered a $200 million agreement with Los Angeles-based Element Films to partner on as many as 15 films to be shot in Louisiana. Schott said the tax savings were to be credited with the industry's growth. "That's what is driving the industry today," he said. But "All the King's Men" producer Mike Medavoy said the tax credits were not the overriding factor in his decision to film in Louisiana. "They're not marginal, but there are other factors," Medavoy told Reuters. "Most important, infrastructure. And a good story." "All the King's Men" is a barely fictionalized account of the rise and fall of Huey P. Long, the outsized and ambitious Depression-era Louisiana governor and senator who dominated state politics and was said to frighten President Franklin Roosevelt with his mass appeal.
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