I’m sitting here listening to gunshots outside my office window overlooking Frenchmen Street. Bullets were flying thick and fast on Monday, right outside my window on Decatur Street. Not to worry though: it was only another movie being filmed on Frenchmen—this time The Courier, to be released next year. Unfortunately, I missed the star, Jeffrey Dean Morgan (he played The Comedian in the movie The Watchmen), who I think is super-hot, but I did catch sight of Miguel Ferrer, who was standing on the corner of Frenchmen and Decatur waiting for his cue.
Jeffrey Dean Morgan - Mr. Hottie
I love movies, but being in or working on one must be the most tedious thing I can imagine. You work for a few minutes; they have to set up the shot; and then you do it again, and again, and again. Gotta be boring. But then I’m more of an adrenaline junkie than someone who likes to sit around and wait. Too bad I can’t figure out how to segue my adrenaline into the dollars they make in the movie business!
Halloween on Frenchmen Street was a little crazier than usual. In addition to the lot that was rented out, got a special events permit, and vended beer, booze, food and music in competition with the longstanding clubs and restaurants on Frenchmen, I heard that some guys got a permit to haul in a hot tub on a truck, sell beer and give access to private portalets. They placed their Jacuzzi-on-wheels right in front of the Apple Barrel, blocking access not only to it but to Adolfo’s upstairs. Needless to say, the Apple Barrel folks were extremely bent out of shape, but could do nothing because someone at the city had granted these people a special permit to so.
The merchants on Frenchmen Street have decided to try to prevent non-business owners from capitalizing on their hard work and the scene they’ve created by taking control over what happens on the street. So there’s been a meeting by the interested parties to form a merchants association, similar to others, such as the Magazine Street Merchants, the French Quarter Business Association and others. ‘Bout time, I say. One of the basic problems they’ll face is keeping the street’s ambience and atmosphere and keeping illegal stuff off the street. How they do that is still to be determined.
UPDATED: Photos taken from the OffBeat office of the filming of The Courier were added below.
