A prediction: 2023 will not be remembered as a time of great film and TV production activity in South Louisiana.
Precious few major productions made the trip to the Crescent City over the course of the past 12 months, partly due to the Hollywood strikes.
Luckily for fans of local film, there was plenty of local product on both big screens and small screens, as a wealth of previously shot films and TV projects were finally released.
Here are my 10 favorites.
Nicholas Cage vamps it up as Count Dracula in director Chris McKay’s ‘Renfield,’ a 92-years-later sequel to 1931’s ‘Dracula’ that is set in New Orleans.
10. “Renfield.” Fueled by a deliciously over-the-top performance from Nicolas Cage and the easy-to-embrace charm of the terrific Nicholas Hoult, director Chris McKay’s 92-years-later, bat-poop crazy “Dracula” sequel — a dark and exceedingly bloody comedy set in modern-day New Orleans — is a gorefest of gleefully cartoonish proportions.
Bryan Cranston addresses jurors as Judge Michael Desiato in the Showtime series 'Your Honor.' The set, a replica of an Orleans Parish Criminal District courtroom, was built at the St. Bernard Parish film studio The Ranch.
9. “Your Honor,” Season 2. Sure, this Showtime crime thriller, starring Bryan Cranston as a New Orleans judge who breaks bad, took a few steps backward in what was a messily conceived sophomore season. That said, with Cranston heading up a great cast, it remained compelling and thoughtful, even with its flaws.
From left, Chase Dillon, Rosario Dawson, LaKeith Stanfield, Owen Wilson and Tiffany Haddish star in ‘Haunted Mansion,’ inspired by the Disneyland attraction of the same name. The film arrives in theaters this Friday, 20 years after Disney’s first attempt to bring it to the screen.
8. “Haunted Mansion.” Between its fantastic ensemble cast, dazzling visual effects, a clear reverence for the ride and a clever script, director Justin Simien’s New Orleans-shot, New Orleans-set horror comedy comes as close to re-creating the unique tone of the theme park attraction that inspired it — and dimming memories of its 2003 big-screen predecessor — as a Disney fan could hope for.
7. “Master Gardener.” Writer-director Paul Schrader’s quiet, humorless drama (shot at St. Francisville’s Greenwood and Rosedown plantations) explores some of his favorite themes, telling the story of a tough man adrift. But beneath its cold, macho veneer — and with help from stars Joel Edgerton and Sigourney Weaver — lies a moving film that’s really about beautiful, precious things, like hope, redemption and the promise of tomorrow.
Rachel Sennott, left, and Ayo Edebiri star in the comedy ‘Bottoms,’ an R-rated comedy directed by Emma Seligman.
6. “Bottoms.” Benefiting from pitch-perfect casting and an irresistible premise — about two loser lesbians who establish an all-girls fight club at their high school to get closer to their favorite cheerleaders — writer-director Emma Seligman’s raunchy, John Hughes-flavored high school satire is a genuine hoot that doubles as a career-making showcase for any number of genuinely funny women.
Carmina Garay, left, and Chloe Guidry stroll down the midway of the Pontchartrain Beach section of the old Jazzland/Six Flags New Orleans site, in an image from the dystopian thriller ‘The Park.’
5. “The Park.” While writer-director Shal Ngo’s indie film can be praised for such things as its intriguing concept, its sharp young cast and its brisk, 79-minute running time, its setting — the old Jazzland theme park in eastern New Orleans — is its real MVP, helping establish a tone that is at once playful and dangerous, innocent yet menacing, familiar but otherworldly.
4. “Daisy Jones and the Six.” Boasting an alluring blend of confidence, rebelliousness, glamour and vocal abilities — all swathed in a gossamer wardrobe that appears to have been borrowed from Stevie Nicks’ closet — Riley Keough is the linchpin to Amazon Studios’ 10-episode rock ’n’ roll romance. But she’s just one of many assets in a series that, in its best moments, straight-up rocks.
3. “The Killer.” “Benjamin Button” director David Fincher returns to New Orleans, but for a film of a totally different sort this time. Rather than a magic-infused romantic fantasy, here we get a stark and stylish hit man drama that makes maximum use of the magnetism of Michael Fassbender. Based on the French graphic novel of the same name, it’s dark and violent stuff, but it’s also engrossing and surprisingly funny at times, buoyed by such lines as: “Lovely, humid New Orleans. A thousand restaurants, one menu.” That, of course, isn’t really true — but it’s true enough to be funny, and it helps make “The Killer” a memorable bit of neonoir world-building.
From left, Harris Dickinson, Zac Efron, Stanley Simmons and Jeremy Allen White as pro wrestling siblings David, Kevin, Mike and Kerry Von Erich, respectively, in writer-director Sean Durkin’s drama ‘The Iron Claw.’
2. “The Iron Claw.” This Baton Rouge-shot biopic, chronicling professional wrestling’s tragedy-prone Von Erich family, is not a feel-good film. It is not uplifting and only marginally inspiring — and even then only as an ode to the amount of pain the human heart can endure. But in the sensitive hands of writer-director Sean Durkin, it is also a well-told, smartly crafted story that can stake a claim to being one of the more moving sports dramas in recent memory.
Jharrel Jerome is Cootie, a 13-foot-tall Black man, and Olivia Washington is his lady love in director Boots Riley’s streaming series ‘I’m a Virgo.’ Interior scenes for Riley’s series were shot largely on New Orleans soundstages.
1. “I’m a Virgo.” Amazon Studios’ seven-episode masterpiece of world creation is a remarkable bit of storytelling, blending a dose of the fantastical with humor, heart and soul to spare — all swaddled in a narrative nod to America’s current shared enthusiasm for comic book superheroes. At once absurdist and profound, “I’m a Virgo” also exposes creator Boots Riley as one of the most noteworthy visual stylists working in Hollywood today.
