Brad Pitt Set To Film Wall Street Exposé ‘The Big Short’ In New Orleans
Brad Pitt will apparently be filming the big-screen adaptation of Michael Lewis’ top Wall Street exposé
The film will reportedly feature an A-list cast including Pitt himself, along with Christian Bale, Ryan Gosling and Steve Carell. Pitt has already set up offices in New Orleans and hopes to start production in March.
Although Paramount Pictures has not publicly announced where the film will be shot, and apparently will not respond to requests for comment. The state film office confirmed on Wednesday morning that an application has been received from the studio for the new project.
Nola quoted Chris Stelly, executive director of Louisiana Entertainment, as saying the application is under review by his office and that they look forward to “production starting in a month or so.”
Brad Pitt’s ‘Big Short’ to shoot in New Orleans, with Ryan Gosling, Christian Bale and Steve Carell co-starring http://t.co/56UNio4Wc1
— NOLA.com (@NOLAnews) February 11, 2015
Some local film industry workers have also confirmed that the production crew is already scouting shooting locations locally and that they are hiring crew ahead of the start of production. It is anticipated that the pace will heat up once the New Orleans Carnival season is over on February 17. So far it is unknown how long the local shoot will take.
Variety reported last month that Pitt, Bale and Gosling were already on board to star in the movie and apparently a few days later USA Today said Carell had told them he was in negotiations to join the cast.
“That looks like it’s happening, there are talks right now.”
The film version of The Big Short will be based on Lewis’ non-fiction book The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine. The thriller tells the individual stories of several characters who saw the financial crash of 2007 and 2008 coming and made sure to position themselves to profit from it. The book reveals the types of personalities that are drawn to Wall Street and the culture of greed that is a major part of the financial industry in the U.S.A.
Brad Pitt apparently owns a home in New Orleans and the film is apparently the second time he has worked with Lewis. Pitt received an Oscar nomination for his part in Moneyball, back in 2012, which was also based on a book by Lewis.
shout-out to Brad Pitt for continuing to do films based in New Orleans.
— Joel (Jo-el) Leon. (@JoelakaMaG) February 11, 2015
Stelly said it was no surprise they had chosen New Orleans for the shoot saying Paramount has “a long-standing and great relationship” with the state of Louisiana.
“The fact that they have chosen our state and the city of New Orleans is no surprise because we have become the premiere destination for motion pictures of all types.”
“This is another great title being added to our growing canon which now boasts of productions such as ‘NCIS: New Orleans,’ ‘Jurassic World,’ ‘Fantastic Four,’ ‘Salem’ and many more. 2015 is shaping up to be one of our most successful years yet.”
In other Brad Pitt news, the Inquisitr reports that he and his lovely wife Angelina Jolie are adopting Moussa, a two-year-old Syrian boy.
Other Paramount films of note that were shot in New Orleans include The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (which also starred Brad Pitt) and G.I. Joe: Retaliation. Coming to cinemas in July, the scifi movie Terminator Genisys was also shot in town.
[Images: Left to right Brad Pitt CC 2 SpreePiX, Christian Bale CC 2 Asim Bharwani, Steve Carell Public Domain RanZag, Ryan Gosling CC by-SA 3 Lifelemon]
