How appropriate. As anyone who has been keeping tabs on the upcoming Jurassic World, directed by Safety Not Guaranteed helmer Colin Trevorrow, knows at this point, the sequel has been shooting for almost two months and is set mostly inside a functional theme park which features live dinosaurs. Now, news has emerged that the film is moving to New Orleans to shoot footage inside the old, abandoned Six Flags New Orleans amusement park.
Your guess is as good as mine when it comes to figuring out what areas of Jurassic World (as seen on this leaked map) will be shot in New Orleans. The park has been closed since before Hurricane Katrina in 2005, so is it possible that it will stand in for parts of Jurassic World damaged when mutant dinos go on the rampage? Trevorrow has been quite generous with plot details, so maybe we’ll find out sooner rather than later.
This isn’t the first time that the Six Flags New Orleans amusement park has been used for Hollywood productions. Most recently, it was used for this summer’s Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, but films like Killer Joe, Stolen and Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters have all made use of different areas in the park.
Of course, we don’t know for sure what order Jurassic World is being shot in, so the New Orleans park could be where Trevorrow shoots large crowd shots of people enjoying Jurassic World. The director previously said that the park “sees more than 20,000 visitors every day,” so the filmmakers would need a pretty large location to capture images of all those people.
The film is shooting under the false title “Ebb Tide,” and a casting announcement just went out for New Orleans residents. Check it out below:
“Ebb Tide”, a Steven Spielberg film, needs men and women (18yrs-75yrs) who are available to work: 6/6, and 6/9 through 6/13 at Six Flags Park. Pay is $101.50/12 hrs.
18 years to 75 years basically means anyone and everyone who can stand out in the sun for a few hours, so you can bet that the casting call is for park visitors.
We’ll surely find out more about Jurassic World, which stars Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard, as its June 12th, 2015 release date draws closer.