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There are some stories that are so deeply associated with New Orleans and Louisiana; it’s difficult to believe they weren’t filmed on location here. All the King’s Men, at least the original 1949 version, was shot entirely in California. The 2006 version starring Sean Penn was filmed in Louisiana, including several places around New Orleans. That was not Sean Penn’s first film in Louisiana as Dead Man Walking also included the State Capital in Baton Rouge and New Orleans as film locations.  Susan Sarandon’s character was a nun based in New Orleans. 

Sarandon met the real-life inspiration, Sister Helen Prejean while in New Orleans filming the John Grisham thriller The Client. Another John Grisham film, The Pelican Brief, starring Julia Roberts and Denzel Washington, includes scenes shot at Spanish Plaza and inside classrooms at Tulane University.

Angel Heart, the 1987 film with Mickey Rourke and Robert De Niro about a man who doesn’t want to be found, was filmed in New York and New Orleans.  Locations in New Orleans include Magazine Street, the Maple Leaf Club at 8316 Oak Street (the Red Rooster in the movie), St. Alphonsius at 2029 Constance Street, St. Louis No 1 Cemetery, and street car scenes on St. Charles Track Avenue. 

Originally called The Windy City and set in Chicago, The Big Easy was filmed in the French Quarter on Louis Street and Poydras Streets. Two specific locations in the film are Antoines Restaurant at 713 St. Louis Street and Piazza d’Italia at 377 Poydras Street.

Filmed throughout the west, Easy Rider is an iconic film starring Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper that also contains several New Orleans locations including St. Louis No. 1 Cemetery and a Mardi Gras parade.  It is interesting to note that despite heading to Mardi Gras, our riders never seem to encounter any cold weather on their journey.

Pretty Baby, a controversial film starring a 12 year old Brooke Shields, is set during 1917 and the last days of legal prostitution in Storyville, the red light district of New Orleans at the time. Storyville was named after the city politician who wrote the legislation that created the district and was bounded by Iberville, Basin, St. Louis and Robertson streets.  At the time, some of the finest houses in the city were in the area along Basin Street but they were all destroyed in the 1930s.

Ray, the story of Ray Charles’ life, amazingly channel by Jamie Fox, was filmed all over New Orleans. Scenes were shot at the Orpheum Theatre at 129 University Place, the Saenger Theatre at 143 N Rampart Street, the Fairmont Hotel, the F&M Patio Bar at 4841 Tchoupitoulas Street, the Civic Theatre at 533 Baronne Street and the City Airport. Additional locations outside New Orleans including Baton Rouge, Thibodaux, and Ray’s childhood home in Laurel Valley were also used in the film. Listen to the soundtrack while you walk take a walking tour and remember the man and the music.

Interview with the Vampire is one of the most famous movies filmed recently in New Orleans and in keeping with New Orleans’ reputation as the most haunted city in America. While filming took place in a soundstage in Los Angeles as well as London and Paris, the most familiar location in New Orleans is Lafayette Cemetery #1 at 1400 Washington Avenue, also a scene for the Ashley Judd movie Double Jeopardy.

King Creole is often considered Elvis Presley’s best film. Unfortunately Elvis’s presence attracted such attention during filming that he was unable to go out and enjoy New Orleans’ cuisine and nightlife and had to order room service each night as no establishment was able to guarantee proper crowd control.  As Elvis’s character was from Bourbon Street, King Creole was shot on the streets of the French Quarter and around Lake Ponchartrain.

Live and Let Die, the first James Bond outing for Sir Roger Moore, sent him to underground caves in Jamaica, to the UN, on a bus chase, and on a very famous boat chase with the speedboat jumping over Highway 11 in Crawdad Bridge. The movie opens with a funeral parade down Durmaine Street in the French Quarter. Other local filming locations include Bourbon Street, Charter Street, and Lakefront Airport on Walter Beech Boulevard, as well as Slidell, a marina at Lake Pontchartrain, and the New Orleans airport. As always Bond defeats the villain, gets the girl and enjoys a drink or two along the way.

Streetcar Named Desire, the 1951 classic starring Marlon Brando and Vivien Leigh, was filmed largely in Los Angles at the Warner Brothers Studio and at a Los Angles Bowling Alley. However the New Orleans railway station (of the famed Streetcar) scenes were filmed right here on the route named Desire after Desire Street. The streetcar seen in the movie is Perley Thomas #922.  And the original play by Tennessee Williams was completed in Room 9 at the Maison de Ville – in what is now known as the Tennessee Williams Room.

Finally, our own Courtney Abercrombie appears in Undercover Blues with Kathleen Turner and Dennis Quaid. Courtney appears in the opening scene dancing across the screen as Turner and Quaid crash an outdoor reception at a home on First Street in the Garden District. Most of the action takes place in the French Quarter and you can see many of the shops along Decatur Street as well as the always popular Café Du Monde.