Gerard Butler headed to Shreveport for one of two dueling White House action flicks

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Gerard Butler headed to Shreveport for one of two dueling White House action flicks

The race to the White House is in full swing, but it's not happening where you think it is. It's playing out in Hollywood -- and in Shreveport -- as dueling inside-the-beltway action films, both described as "'Die Hard' in the White House," are ramping up production.


Actor Gerard Butler, shown at December's Golden Globes annoucement, is headed to Shreveport to shoot 'White House Taken' (aka 'Olympus Has Fallen'), one of two upcoming action films set at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
Columbia Pictures' "White House Down" is shaping up to be the bigger of the two. Roland Emmerich ("The Day After Tomorrow," "2012") is lined up to direct, and Channing Tatum and Maggie Gyllenhaal are penciled in to star as Secret Service agents who must defend the president when a paramilitary force overtakes 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

Rumored to be considering the role of the president in "White House Down": Jamie Foxx, who is in New Orleans shooting Quentin Tarantino's "Django Unchained."

Emmerich's film is set for release on Nov. 1, 2013.

Meanwhile, and closer to home, Nu Image/Millennium will start 50 days of production on "White House Taken" -- which is also known as "Olympus Has Fallen" -- in early July in the Shreveport and Bossier City areas, where the production house runs its own studio facility. (Resumes for prospective crew can be sent to resumes to [Only admins are allowed to see this link] .)

Antoine Fuqua will reportedly direct that one, with Gerard Butler starring as a Secret Service agent who is the government's last hope when terrorists invade the White House. No release date has been announced.

The film will mark Butler's second recent trip to Shreveport; the actor shot the forthcoming rom-com "Playing the Field" there in spring 2011.

Cameras have yet to roll on either film, but a poster for "White House Taken" cropped up along the Croisette at last month's Cannes Film Festival, as Millennium is apparently wasting no time in trying to sell the project to potential distribution houses.

Saw an article a few weeks ago about dueling films. Just recently we had Mirror, Mirror and Snow White and the Huntsman.

There were:
Tombstone and Wyatt Earp
Volcano and Dante's Peak
Armageddon and Deep Impact
The Illusionist and The Prestige
The Abyss and Leviathan and Deepstar Six

Nothing new. They all "get" the same idea at the same time. The cruddier film tries to come out first and make money quick so it won't be called a bad knock-off. The better film tries to not come out too much later than the worse one so it won't look like a knock-off.

In the deep sea group, Deepstar Six came out first, a couple of months later Leviathan came out, then a few months later The Abyss came out. To me, the worst came first and the best came last.

IMDb says GB's film is coming out in 2014, the Columbia one in 2013. Hmm.