Travolta shoot in Paris suburb cancelled after cars torched
2 days ago
PARIS (AFP) — A John Travolta film shoot in a rough Paris suburb has been called off after arsonists torched a fleet of stunt cars in the neighbourhood, producers and officials said.
Scenes from the thriller titled "From Paris With Love" were due to be shot this week in Montfermeil, a northeast Paris suburb that was at the epicentre of 2005 youth riots in immigrant-populated French towns.
But production company EuropaCorp said late Monday the shoot was "postponed" indefinitely after the dozen cars were burned near the movie set late Sunday night.
A police official said security guards spotted someone with a jerrycan of petrol on the car park where the cars were torched Sunday night.
Investigators were also looking into rumours of an attempt to blackmail the production firm, owned by French director Luc Besson.
Montfermeil mayor Xavier Lemoine said he was told the shoot was cancelled altogether for security reasons, calling it a "deep disappointment."
The 38-million-euro (56-million-dollar) film began shooting in the Alpine town of Annecy late last month and will continue for the next two and half months in various locations across France.
Directed by Frenchman Pierre Morel, it stars Travolta as a US secret agent on a high-risk assignment in Europe, as well as Irish actor Jonathan Rhys-Meyers.
The Montfermeil scenes were to be shot in and around a high rise apartment block up for demolition as part of an urban renewal scheme, with around 100 locals hired as extras, cooks and security staff.
One of the extras, Moussba Harb, 43, said she thought the shoot had begun when she saw smoke from the burning cars, before realising it was arson. She said the decision to cancel was "a childhood dream slipping away."
Harb said she doubted local youths were to blame, saying they were "deeply upset" to see the film called off.
Youth riots spread from the northeast Paris suburbs across France for three weeks in October and November 2005, fuelled by anger at racism and social exclusion in the largely-immigrant areas.
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