Black Water Transit

So FOX has picked up "K-Ville" for its fall schedule. As most of y'all probably know, it's a buddy cop drama set in post-Katrina NOLA starring Anthony Anderson (from "The Shield) and Cole Hauser ("Pitch Black" and "Paparazzi"). I had heard they'd been filming down in the warehouse district and in the French Quarter, but I tend to avoid the Quarter and hang out in uptown, since parking is plentiful and cheap (as is beer).

A couple of weeks ago, D. and I were driving in to New Orleans around 11:00 PM, the end of a two day drive from south Florida. We were tired and cranky, and yawning our way down St. Charles Ave. towards our house. And then we saw lights, from a parked police car. Hmmm, that's kind of random. St. Charles is a relatively safe road, even at night. As we continued down the road, we saw that right across the street from where we turn to head up to our house, film crews were set up, filming a scene on the front porch of a mansion on the Avenue. Tractor-trailers and catering vans were everywhere, and the cop car was just a prop for the scene.

Random, I know, but still kind of cool. So we assumed at the time that it was filming on "K-Ville," which is a reasonable guess. But last night, as we made our way down to The Bulldog to meet up with K., A. and M. for Free Pint Glass Night (woot!), we noticed a crap ton of trailers and lights and cameras. Hmm...the same house, at the corner of Peniston and St. Charles (a scant 3 blocks from La Maison)? Couldn't be "K-Ville."

We shrugged, and went on our merry way. A couple of beers later, we made our way back up Louisiana to St. Charles, and decided to stop and grab a drink at The Superior Grille. As we parked, a guy stumbled across the streetcar tracks towards his van (parked in front of D.'s car), decrying the strength of Superior's infamous margaritas. He beseeched us to help him guide his car out of his spectacular parking spot, rambling semi-coherently about margaritas and parallel parking and Cheetos. (At least, I *think* he mentioned Cheetos.) We helped him out of his spot, and he took off, on his drunk and happy way home. Only in New Orleans, right?

So we sat down at the bar at Superior (no kidding, those margaritas ARE strong) and began chit-chatting with the bartender, who pointed out good ol' Larry Fishburne's trailer through the window. That's right - MORPHEUS IS FILMING A MOVIE IN NEW ORLEANS.

It's called "Black Water Transit," and it's a...well...post-Katrina crime story. It's based on the book of the same name, which was, oddly enough set in New York. ::shrugging::

The IMDB entry on it: http://imdb.com/title/tt0490087/

Here are the pics we took last night on my handy little camera phone...

(The actors' trailers, right on Amelia Ave. next to Touro)

(Production trucks)

(This was the third time we saw them filming at this house on St. Charles.)

So yeah, very cool, all in all. Earlier that afternoon, as D. went to deposit our rent checks downtown, he texted me to tell me that he thought he saw Bernie Mac. Hmmm.