Welcome to Cut Throat City
Filed under: Drama, Independent, Casting, Newsstand, Cinematical Indie
There's certainly no "We need time to heal!" thinking going on when it comes to Hurricane Katrina. Both When the Levees Broke, Spike Lee's documentary about the storm and its aftermath, and Wong Kar-Wai's rumored fictional project (which may or may not be shot in New York and may or may not star Adrien Brody) popped up in the news just a few months after the hurricane hit. And today, we have two more: Jette reported this morning about Walking on Dead Fish, and also in the works is an indie picture called Cut Throat City. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the movie "is a heist story that begins in the grimy, decimated Lower Ninth Ward and then hits the road" -- plus, it's got "social relevance." Woo hoo! The film will mark the cinematic debut of music video director Aaron Courseault; New Orleans rappers Baby and Lil Wayne are expected to star.Depending on the acting skills of its central duo (I though Baby had been in at least one movie before, but he doesn't seem to be listed in the IMDb), this actually might have some potential. It seems to me that a little indie picture is probably the best way to look at post-Katrina New Orleans -- this is a situation where low-budget might be a blessing rather than a curse, because it could lend the movie a convincing sort of grittiness.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
6-03-2006 @ 8:34AM
Scott said...
I will lose all respect for Wong if he decides to shoot a Katrina-related movie in NYC because he considers the damage in NOLA "too severe." As for Lee's doc, it should be interesting to me as an ex-New Orleanian unless he's still claiming that the government intentionally blew up the levees to get rid of the city's black population.
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6-04-2006 @ 12:56AM
Stephen Rue said...
“New Orleans Story” Documentary Feature Film
By New Orleans Filmmakers
Completes 250 Hours of Filming
Contact: Stephen Rue, Executive Producer
(504) 319-9990; StephenRRue@aol.com
New Orleans filmmakers Stephen Rue and Gabriel Dayan have gone through a personal and emotional journey as they have just completed filming over 250 hours of footage (over the last 11 months) for their upcoming feature length documentary film titled “New Orleans Story.” Filmmaker and attorney Stephen Rue, a life long New Orleanian had started filming a documentary in the lower ninth ward of New Orleans three months prior to Hurricane Katrina destroying his city. He and his colleague Gabriel Dayan were producing a film regarding the Habitat for Humanity efforts in this impoverished area of New Orleans. After Hurricane Katrina took aim on the Gulf Coast, Rue’s home and law offices were flooded and the city that he knew and loved were changed forever, The cameras continued to roll as the documentary also changed.. Rue and fellow filmmaker Dayan found themselves in the midst of the largest natural disaster in American history. Rue states, “No one who is not from New Orleans can truly tell the New Orleans Story. We had no choice, it had become a personal mission to record history in the making and let the camera come along on this journey that we share with our extended family of Hurricane Katrina victims.”
“I have been in attics where people have died,” Rue said. ”We have been with homeowners as they see their destroyed homes for the very first time. We have shared tears with those who were once strangers.” Rue continued, “Our goal is to have the most contemporaneous and comprehensive film made regarding Hurricane Katrina” Stephen Rue concluded by saying, “As Americans go on with their own lives, we strive to let the people know that the tragedy continues; we must all heed the lessons learned at the expense of the lives lost and our great American city left in a wake of destruction and despair.”
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