Wednesday, November 28, 2007

'Hannah Montana' to film in Tennessee or Louisiana?

It's not out of the question, but the likelihood of Miley Cyrus filming her "Hannah Montana" movie in Louisiana appears less than likely at present. The Tennessean recently reported that a movie is going to start filming in April. Where? From the sounds of it, Tennessee is the frontrunner.

Miley's father, Billy Ray Cyrus, did float some doubt out there, though. He told The Tennessean that the competitive incentives between Tennessee and Louisiana are pretty close: "We're going to need some immediate assistance from the film commissioner, the legislators, the governor — everybody that would like to see this film come to Tennessee needs to start acting now. They are going to make this decision very quickly."

"There are plenty of locations and plenty of people who could make a good film. It's going to come down to budgets."

I called Louisiana's state office (Louisiana Economic Development) yesterday to see what's up. They said Disney mentioned the project "earlier" during discussions about many projects -- they wouldn't specify when -- but that this specific project hasn't been mentioned since.

That doesn't put Louisiana out of the question. But if "Hannah Montana" were to shoot here, we would be hearing a lot of chatter about setting up production offices, crewing up, and crazy fans trying to get her autograph.

I haven't heard anything yet, but I'll keep an ear to the ground.

PHOTO: Hannah Montana sings to her fans while performing in concert November 15, 2007 at the CenturyTel Center in Bossier City. (Douglas Collier/The Times)

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