This spring, spotting Tom Hanks became sort of a game around town. Social media accounts revealed enthusiastic sightings of the megastar at eateries like City Pork, Galatoire’s Bistro and The Velvet Cactus, and shops like Cottonwood Books.
But Hanks most often could be found along the downtown riverfront at the U.S.S. Kidd, one of the shooting locations for his forthcoming feature film, Greyhound.
The Hanks sightings were good fun, but what was more significant about one of Hollywood’s most bankable actors being in town was what it signaled for the local film industry, 225 reports in its latest cover story.
After a couple of years of declining action and losing projects to other states, Louisiana is back in the game, thanks to progressive revisions to the longstanding film industry tax credit program.
“We’re definitely in a positive transition period with a lot of really cool stuff coming this summer,” says Chris Stelly, executive director of Louisiana Entertainment, the state agency that coordinates the film tax credit program. “Fourteen projects have applied to the program,” he says, referring to the 2018 program statewide, “and we know of others out there, as well.
More than $7.5 million worth of productions on the books from June to August and counting,” says Katie Pryor, executive director of the Baton Rouge Film Commission.
High-profile Baton Rouge projects underway include a Marvel Studios film that will shoot on location this summer. Captain Marvel will star Brie Larson and Samuel L. Jackson. Parts of The Highwaymen, a Netflix feature film starring Kevin Costner and Woody Harrelson, were shot at the Old Governor’s Mansion on North Boulevard in early March.
It’s not just big projects that Baton Rouge is attracting; it’s also a healthy number of commercials, infomercials, documentaries and smaller film projects, Pryor says.
Read the full cover story, in which 225 traces the arc of film production in Baton Rouge and digs into this summer’s boom. Send your comments to editor@225batonrouge.com.
