Ryan Reynolds Defends New Orleans

06/22/2011

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Ryan and Blake, you guys were in Louisiana, which were pretty desolate where you were filming. So could you tell me what you guys did in your spare time? I know Blake, you did a lot of baking. And for Mark and Peter, you guys are very unrecognizable. Could you explain talk about the heavy duty prosthetics on yourselves? Full article at ComicBookMovie.com


Reynolds: First off, let me defend New Orleans as far from a desolate place. New Orleans is one of the most exciting, incredible communities in the world. There’s such a rich culture and history, and there are innumerable things to do. It was actually the exact worst place you want to bring a bunch of never-do-well actors to shoot a big-budget movie.

Thankfully, everybody reeled it in and kept it contained. For me, any time you step outside of your house in New Orleans, you’re going to see something incredible. You’re going to hear some of the best jazz music, eat some of the best food, and see some of the best entertainment in the world. That’s a city that keeps getting knocked down, but they just keep getting back up. There’s a real spirit there that amazes me to this day.

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Green Lantern Extras Reunite for Showing

06/20/2011

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'Green Lantern' Extras in Harahan
'Green Lantern' Extras in Harahan
NEW ORLEANS — Over 100 extras gathered to watch Green Lantern at the AMC Elmwood Palace 20 in Harahan, La Saturday June 18.

The group was comprised of background talent who worked several months on the film shot in New Orleans in the summer of 2010.

The event was organized by one of the background talent, Michael Arnona, who had planned several other events during the shooting.

During shooting there were many talks among the extras that when the film came out they would arrange to see it together, said Arnona

“As the date approached no one else took the initiative so I went ahead and started planning it,” said Arnona.

He was surprised by just how large the response was, said Arnona.

There were in total over 3000 extras during the New Orleans filming, said Robin Batherson, of Batherson casting who came to show her support.

“I had a great group of people that were with us as extras and they are going to come with me to the next movie as well,” said Batherson.

Continue reading here.
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Green Lantern is big business for Louisiana

06/13/2011

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Ryan Reynolds in 'Green Lantern'
Ryan Reynolds in 'Green Lantern'
"Green Lantern," which opens in theaters Thursday at midnight, is big business, both for Warner Bros. -- the studio behind the film -- and for Louisiana's film industry.

For its part, the studio has shelled out in the neighborhood of $150 million on what it hopes will be Hollywood's next big superhero franchise, and the film on which the first part of its summer movie season is hinged. ("Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2" lands next month, the second part of the studio's impressive one-two punch.)

Of that $150 million, some $113 million -- about 75 percent -- was spent in Louisiana, according to Chris Stelly, director of the state's film office. That gives "Green Lantern" the title of biggest feature film ever shot in the state, both in terms of dollars spent in-state and in terms of money paid out by the Louisiana filmmaking tax-incentives program. (The previous record-holder: 2008's "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," which also had a budget in the neighborhood of $150 million but which spent a larger chunk in other locations and which shot before the state sweetened the tax-incentives program in 2009.)

It also means the state is heavily invested in the film, to the tune of an estimated $34.9 million in tax credits offered to lure the project here, according to the state film office. Despite what critics of filmmaking tax incentives say, Stelly and the program's supporters insist it's money well spent. Not only does much of that money get plowed back into the state economy, but a film with as high a profile as "Green Lantern" is a feather-in-the-cap kind of production that has a way of begetting more film projects.

"I think with a film like 'Green Lantern' and the size and the potential it has for sequels or prequels or whatever they're calling for, I think it really shows the diversity in locations that Louisiana can do," Stelly said. "Louisiana can do Louisiana really well, but guess what? We can do other places really well. So there's that diversity in location. We can do the major tentpole pictures. There's no reason that any other picture can't be shot in Louisiana."

Reynolds states, "I love New Orleans. New Orleans is a second home for me, so being there was fantastic."

Continue reading at NOLA.com
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