Hollywood on the Bayou

Hollywood on the Bayou

There we are on the set of “The Great Debaters,” directed by and starring Denzel Washington, produced by Oprah Winfrey and also starring Forest Whitaker. Los Angeles? No, it’s Mansfield, Louisiana, twenty-five miles south of Shreveport, a city which has suddenly become a Hollywood hotbed.

It’s the talk of the town: Kevin Costner has done two films here, “The Guardian” and “Mr. Brooks;” there’s been a Stephen King story about fog (or mist;) Tom Hanks came for “Homeland Security;” Tom Cruise came for wife Katy Holmes who was working with Diane Keaton and Queen Latifah; Samuel L. Jackson was talking to school kids between takes; and Cedric the Entertainer was, uh, entertaining. And according to an NBC News story, “Hollywood stars have been pretty happy here, too, because for some reason the paparazzi can’t seem to find Shreveport on a map.”

What were we doing on the “Great Debaters?” Along with maybe one hundred other locals, we were providing some “background:” populating antique buses and cars; walking up and down sidewalks, entering shops, cafes, hardware and grocery stores; standing on the corner watching all the grips go by. It is not a dignified job and it doesn’t pay well, but for a while you feel like you’re part of something big.

“The Great Debaters,” set in the Depression Era 1935, is the true story of a debate team from all-black Wiley College in Marshall, Texas. They compete in a national debate contest, come up against Harvard, and win. Denzel plays Melvin B. Tolson, the poet-professor who molds the debate team and encourages his students to become real-life proponents of civil rights. Forest Whitaker plays the father of James L. Farmer, Jr., a student who later co-founded the Congress of Racial Equality.

Back on the set: one evening, about six p.m., some dignitaries had arranged a public ceremony in front of the Court House to present Denzel Washington with the keys to the “city” of Mansfield. A goodly crowd gathered. A few youngsters were holding up a twenty foot banner which read “Welcome to Mansfield Great Debaters,” when suddenly from around the corner there was a concerted squealing of the sort one associates with Elvis Presley’s teenage fans. A group of local girls had spotted Denzel.

So it goes. Marsha started the Office of Film and Video here in Shreveport in 1989, and the office continued to do its work long after she had gone to live on the Côte d’Azur and make travel films with me. But it was not until the disaster known as “Katrina” that Shreveport really took off as a filmmakers destination. Practically every film that had been scheduled to be made in New Orleans had to find a new location, while still getting the various tax breaks provided by the State of Louisiana. Shreveport filled the void.

If you think of cypress trees growing in lakes, little old rundown southern towns, decorative ironwork balconies, rows of shotgun houses, oil wells and cotton fields, baptisms in the river, stately plantation homes, think Shreveport, an undiscovered landscape. In fact, think “Hello Louisiana,” our atmospheric travel film about this steamy southern French-fried culture. Hellooo!

“Hollywood on the Bayou” by Monty Brown. Monty and wife Marsha have produced six travel films, the latest of which is “Wales: Land of Song." (2010)