Big Picture Big Sound

"Dark Meridian" Featured at LIFF

The Louisiana International Film Festival, now in its fifth year, highlights films produced locally as well as offering a slate of features, documentaries, and shorts submitted from around the globe. The festival also serves as a top-notch showcase for the film industry in Louisiana, which has been so successful in recent years that it has earned the region a lofty moniker: "Hollywood South." In addition to attracting out of state filmmakers eager to house their productions there due to the variety of shooting locales and surfeit of experienced local crews, Louisiana is also known as a place that supports and develops local creative talent.

During this year's four-day festival in Baton Rouge I had the opportunity to sit down with two such filmmakers, Rankin Hickman and Billy Slaughter, both of whom have Louisiana roots. Their film "Dark Meridian," a gritty crime thriller shot entirely on location in nearby New Orleans, was part of the festival's feature lineup. They were busy promotional duties - Mr. Hickman had participated in the fest's Louisiana Filmmaker panel, Mr. Slaughter was on his way to a tv interview, and both were prepping for that afternoon's "Meridian" screening - but they graciously took the time to talk with me about their creative process and what inspired their film, as well as offering an informative firsthand look inside the current state of the Louisiana film industry.

Mr. Hickman is relaxed and exudes an analytical thoughtfulness as he speaks about industry that he's been a part of for nearly twenty years. He currently wears a number of hats, having written, directed, and produced "Dark Meridian." Mr. Slaughter plays the lead in the film (he also has a role in "Dead on Arrival," another feature screened at LIFF) and serves as executive producer. Compact and charismatic with piercing blue eyes, Mr. Slaughter is a classically-trained actor who, while still in his mid-thirties, has amassed 80-plus film and television credits and anchors his industry reflections with pithy on-set examples. The two are longtime friends who talk easily together, picking up on each other's observations and trading conversational through-lines. As our chat began we talked briefly about living in Los Angeles, and I mentioned that I was new to Louisiana, which provided a starting point for a discussion of the state's powerhouse film industry.

Lora Grady/Big Picture Big Sound: I've been (in Louisiana) since January and I actually had no idea that there was such a strong film industry here, so that was a surprise.                                                                                   

Rankin Hickman: The film industry in Louisiana in general has been strong for as long as I can remember. I first got into the film business in 1998 when I came down from Mississippi and started working as a production assistant. At that time there were a lot of commercials and a feature every now and then.                  

Billy Slaughter: 2002 is when our production credits launched and this was the official beginning of Hollywood South, when projects came here on a larger scale. Then there was a solid upward track until 2013, which is when Louisiana was number one in the world in terms of film production. It's still unbelievable hearing it said but more major films were produced in Louisiana that year than anywhere else in the world.

RH: For a while after Katrina they were spreading the film productions all over the state, so there were productions in Baton Rouge, New Orleans, and Shreveport. And I think back when the entire state was involved Louisiana really was really in the film production business. As things scaled down a little bit (due to revisions in Louisiana's film tax credits) and focused mainly on New Orleans that changed things.

BS: But we do want to get the word out to say that we are officially back, as of last year, after (the state) rewrote the credits to include additional incentives for local productions, Louisiana-based productions like "Dark Meridian." And as we speak have more tv shoots here than at any point prior, as well as major feature films.

RH: We're fighting for crew members because so many (crew) people left in 2015 and 2016 and moved to Georgia, where the other tax credits are. It's such a huge metropolitan area and the state is such a diverse state, in terms of geography, with so much that it can offer. I completely understand why people would want to go there. But, (we have) experienced crews, and the tradition of shooting film here has been so deep for so long that people were happy to come back to Louisiana and boy, since November of last year it has been like a fireball of production. There are about 15 productions going on at any one time, fighting for crew members.

BS: And now New Orleans has come close to reaching its peak and we're seeing major production back in Baton Rouge. The last film I worked on here was "The Highwaymen" with Kevin Costner and Woody Harrelson, and now there's one here with Tom Hanks, something about World War II - ‘cause all he was missing was another WWII movie (laughs).

Having provided some background and history on the Louisiana film industry, Mr. Hickman and Mr. Slaughter went on to discuss their personal experience as filmmakers, both assessing and working in the state's great variety of filming locations, and reflecting on other benefits that the state has to offer.

LG/BPBS: What are some of the advantages of shooting in New Orleans? And let's balance that with some of the challenges of shooting in New Orleans or in Louisiana?

RH: There haven't been that many challenges except for the geographic locations: you don't have any mountains, you have plenty of waterways - the ocean, the lake, the river - but you just don't have the variety of, say, Colorado or even California, where they have many different landscapes that you can drive to from here or there.

BS: I'm a glass-half-full guy, and the landscapes here are far more diverse than the average person might assume would be available in Louisiana. Folks outside of (the state) might think we're all just floating through swamps - but I've shot things here that have doubled for other cities or Anywhere, USA, and other countries, desert regions, jungles of Asia-

RH: -and you do have quite a diverse look within the New Orleans neighborhoods. Some can look like anywhere in America, or they can look specifically like New Orleans in the early colonial periods. Louisiana can even double for Florida or Key West a little bit. They've doubled the city and the state for many, many other locations. And in the case of at least one that I can think of, where they filmed "The Mist" in Shreveport it didn't matter if the backdrop (they needed) was a mountain where this mist came down and took over the town; they just added it all in with visual effects and it was fine.

BS: I was in "The Magnificent Seven" and we shot an hour north of here in a field, and you watch the movie and we're surrounded by gorgeous mountain ranges - movie magic! Another major advantage here: you're hard-pressed to find more experienced cast and crew. In the major markets like LA you have extremely experienced people but it's so spread out, whereas both the talent pool and production here are so concentrated. A lot of the same people who have been working for decades, on everything from small independent films to major studio tentpoles to network productions; it's not as compartmentalized as it is in other markets so people around here really know what they're doing.

RH: And it's the same sort of situation in Georgia: it's like LA, everything is so spread out that you can't do multiple moves within in a day for different locations, which is one of the huge benefits of filming in both Baton Rouge and New Orleans. It has a lot to offer in terms of cast and crew, and it's also easy to get around. I think that's very attractive to people.

I wanted to know more about the inspiration behind "Dark Meridian," which is so clearly steeped in its New Orleans settings.

LG/BPBS: And when you started looking at this project, were you always envisioning it in New Orleans?

RH: Oh, yes. Part of my inspiration for creating the film was that I had worked on so many other films that had come to New Orleans and focused on the same locations over and over and you find (that everyone's) perspective is the same for New Orleans - what is New Orleans? Oh, it's this shot of Bourbon Street and it's this shot of the river... (but) there's so many (different) ways to characterize New Orleans and its streets, and that's what we wanted to show.

BS: As local filmmakers we want to make sure we're not only offering a tourist postcard version of New Orleans, so with "Meridian" we give authentic nods to what's there and what (the city is) known for.

RH: We shot in the French Quarter, sure--

BS: --yeah, but there's no Mardi Gras or gumbo parties or second lines. As locals, we're getting into the backstreets that we know, and it really adds a sort of back alley urban grittiness (to the film) that a lot of people have complimented. They say, "we don't usually think of New Orleans in these terms."

RH: I'm proud of what we did, when we're able to show another side of the city, and so inspire other people to look at the city a little differently, y'know, find another perspective that they can characterize the city with.

BS: And it's a 100% local cast and crew, so it truly is a sample of what we have to offer as Louisiana filmmakers.

LG/BPBS: For each of you, if a viewer is coming to your movie, can name a high point that you want them to be watching for?

RH: It's tricky, because it's a genre film, and in any crime thriller where there's a whodunit element, the audience is expected to try and guess what's going to happen next. You always have to be one step ahead of the audience and build in a little misdirection here and there in order to make sure to satisfy the audience's expectations for what they're getting out of the film. So what I would like to highlight as high points are probably things that we can't mention (laughs) because there are lots of anticipated twists in the film but they may just twist in ways that the audience doesn't expect.

BS: We made sure we made a movie where we'll dare you to try and put everything together but you won't be able to. I always want to invite everyone to rewatch the film, because it has great rewatch value. I've probably seen it about ten times now and it gets better and better with additional viewings. When you start from the beginning knowing what you know, then everything that's said, every event, starts to take on a different meaning and you start to put it together. You can enjoy it as an audience member I think even more on the second viewing.

I also wanted to follow up on one of the themes of the Louisana International Film Festival and learn more about who had influenced Mr. Hickman and Mr. Slaughter as they were beginning their careers in the film industry.

LG/BPBS: In addition to being a film festival, LIFF also has a component of wanting to mentor people or provide an entrée into the industry. Can you both tell me briefly about somebody who has been a mentor for you in your career?

RH: I've had many mentors over the years, from the ground up, people that are just helping and encouraging me to learn different aspects of the film business. My latest mentor, and I'm very grateful (to have his guidance), is Taylor Hackford. I worked with him on "Parker" in 2011 - Billy was also in the cast - and I think (Hackford) saw how passionate I was about filmmaking, even though I was just working as a production supervisor, not in a creative capacity at all. But he saw that I was a hard worker and we stayed in touch, and when I made my film he supported me financially and he's definitely supported me with the whole screening process, giving me tips on what I should do and how I should handle myself and so I'm very grateful to have that friendship.

LG/BPBS: Wow, that's an incredible mentor!

BS: No less than the President of the DGA (Directors Guild of America)! And I think in terms of a macrocosm, Hollywood South has allowed for such great mentorship; it's brought the best and brightest here. The people that we grew up watching and being inspired by from a distance, now all of a sudden you find yourself on set right in front of them. Early in my career I was able to work with Dustin Hoffman and we clicked and he invited me to move out to LA - I was his stand-in on a film here, right out of college, and he brought me out to LA to be his regular stand in. As I said, when you have people that any actor would idolize and then you're given the chance to work hand in hand with them, it just takes the journey to a whole new level, making it tangible. What you learn from that kind of caliber of artist you'll take with you for the rest of your career.

Check out the trailer for "Dark Meridian" here: https://vimeo.com/249440088