Just Add Palm Trees: "Battle: Los Angeles" Shoots Louisiana For LA

On the one hand, maybe Los Angeles should be glad that the alien attack movie "Battle: Los Angeles" was filmed in Louisiana--the crew shut down a freeway overpass for a month to film "a massive explosion and gun battles," reports the LA Times. On the other hand, the shoot netted Louisiana about $46.5 million in spending, in exchange for less than $15 million in tax credits. The movie's a bit of a public shaming for Los Angeles and the state of California, which doesn't offer tax credits to films with budgets over $75 million ("Battle" was budgeted at just that number). But in Louisiana the crew could also "shoot in locations that would have been impossible to shoot in L.A.," like the freeway, according to one producer. And it was very possible to shoot LA in Louisiana--the film built a Santa Monica apartment complex in Baton Rouge, subbed in Louisiana's Capitol building for LA's City Hall, and of course threw in palm trees where necessary.
· On Location — 'Battle: Los Angeles' takes the Bayou by storm [LAT]
· Battle: Los Angeles Archives [Curbed LA]