The Dukes of Hazzard opens nationwide June 24.

[Cajunduke]

Here's very good article that was in this morning Baton Rouge newspaper with the Director Jay Chandrasekhar.

http://2theadvocate.com/stories/021805/ent_dukes001.shtml

I'll copy & paste here for your reading...

Dukes rides again

Louisiana played host to cast and crew filming big-screen remake of TV's The Dukes of Hazzard

By JOHN WIRT

Entertainment writer

A rainy day in Louisiana. At the rural set of The Dukes of Hazzard, it's ankle-deep muddy.

Like a small army, the Dukes movie cast and crew is occupying a farm in Zachary. Rain forces a change of plans. Instead of shooting outside with Jessica Simpson as Daisy Duke and Seann William Scott and Johnny Knoxville as Bo and Luke Duke, Jay Chandrasekhar is directing an interior scene. Boss Hogg and his henchman, Sheriff Roscoe P. Coltrane, have Uncle Jesse and Pauline tied up in their kitchen.

Burt Reynolds' Boss Hogg is mighty mean to his silent captives, played by Willie Nelson and Lynda Carter. In a nearby room, a video monitor lets Chandrasekher and cinematographer Larry Sher watch Hogg lord it over the hapless pair. Sound man David Alvarez and his rig are behind them and a pair of makeup people crouch in a corner.

As folks in and around Baton Rouge couldn't help but notice, The Dukes of Hazzard, a Warner Bros. production, was shot in the area from mid-November through early February. Locations included Clinton, French Settlement, Zachary, downtown Baton Rouge, New Orleans and I-10.

Last month in a Zachary farm house off Old Scenic Highway, the movie-set cries of "Rolling!" "Action!" and "Cut!" went out again and again. Between takes, dozens of crew members maneuvered through film equipment, stepping on the home's plywood-protected floors.

"Let's go one more right away," Chandrasekhar said after take four of scene 99. But a spot on Boss Hogg's white suit briefly halted shooting. After another take, the director gave the command to "march in," movie talk for getting a tighter shot.

Through successive takes, Reynolds phrased his threats to Nelson and Carter ever more effectively. Boss Hogg's Southern-fried menace rose into sharp focus.

During a break from shooting, the director expressed his satisfaction.

"Burt's eyes glint," Chandrasekhar said. "He's got a great smile. He puts accents in great places. He's funny. We did like 12 takes of that thing. It was obvious to everybody that the last take was the best. There's constant pressure to move faster and get on to the next scene, but when you see what he can do on the 12th take, you realize you can take a little heat for being a little slow now. This movie will be around a long time. I think we'll use that last take. If people like the specific way he read that joke, it'll be worth it."

The Dukes of Hazzard is a big-screen remake of the '70s and '80s TV show about good old Southern boys Bo and Luke Duke, their hot 1969 Dodge Charger, the General Lee, and even hotter girl cousin, Daisy.

The Dukes movie retains the original characters and locale, but it's not slavishly faithful to its TV model. As a kid growing up in Chicago, Chandrasekhar was a devoted fan.

"The show that we loved was shot in '79, '80, so it was wholesome," the director said. "There are elements of this film that are wholesome, but I like realistic, border-pushing comedy. Our plot could have been from that show, but it's realistic. Some swearing and sometimes getting into business they'd never get into on the show. Everything's happy in the end, but there's a real conflict."

The new Dukes' realism derives in large part from Boss Hogg.

"In a lot of comedy films," Chandrasekhar explained, "they hire a really goofy guy to play the bad guy, or a guy you could beat up. As a viewer, you don't want to see a bad guy you can beat up. If you're tough and funny, that's great. If you're soft and funny, then you won't be a bad guy in a movie I make."

For Chandrasekhar, directing Reynolds in The Dukes of Hazzard -- a film inspired by a TV show that was in turn inspired by the Reynolds-starring Smokey and The Bandit -- is coming full circle.

"Burt Reynolds plays a character named Bo in Smokey and the Bandit," the director said. "Jackie Gleason is basically Boss Hogg. Jerry Reed is essentially Luke. There's a hound dog. Sally Field has little short-shorts, and the style of stunts was the same."

Even before Chandrasekhar got the job of directing Dukes, he knew he wanted Reynolds as well as country singer, sometimes actor Willie Nelson in the cast.

"Burt and Willie are two of my heroes. When I went in to try to get the job of directing this movie, I told them, 'Boss Hogg's gotta be Burt Reynolds and Uncle Jesse's gotta be Willie Nelson.' They hadn't heard that before, but that's the only way I would have made this movie."

Joining Reynolds and Nelson are Scott and Knoxville as the Duke boys and singer, reality TV star and A-list celebrity Jessica Simpson, making her big-screen debut as the head-turning Daisy Duke.

"Jessica is sort of sitting on the hot surface of the sun at the moment," Chandrasekhar said. "Everywhere she goes, they're looking. But she's a really nice, down-to-earth girl. The good thing about it for us is she comes prepared, she's talented and devoted. Nobody knows what to expect, but I think people who love her will be really excited, and people who doubt her ability will be surprised. She's new at it, which is kind of fun. She's got this unjaded enthusiasm. And she was smart to choose a film where she could be part of an ensemble cast. It's not like a Jessica Simpson movie that she has to carry. That's a terrible idea for anybody, but it happens all the time."

Playing Bo, Scott brings a proven comedy track record including Old School and American Pie.

"He has that rebel yell kind of energy that you need to play either of the Duke boys," the director said. "And Knoxville (TV's Jackass), he's a rogue, a wild, Johnny Cash-type Southern guy."

Nelson is another natural for The Dukes, Chandrasekhar said.

"As I shoot more scenes, each scene is so good that I'm like, 'Ah, I need to write more for him.' Usually, when you have non-actors, you have to cut around them, but that's not the case with either Willie or Jessica."

Besides the movie's human characters, there's four-wheeled star the General Lee. The production's 26 General Lee cars, restored and converted for stunt driving, are the most costly line-item in the budget, Dukes producer Bill Gerber said.

The director promises breathtaking stunts from the General Lee.

"They did a poll and it said the General Lee is the most recognizable car in a movie or TV history," he said. "When we were growing up, we all wanted to get in the General Lee and floor it down I-10."

The Dukes of Hazzard opens nationwide June 24.

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http://2theadvocate.com/stories/021805/ent_dukes001.shtml

[Capt_Redneck]

Cajunduke....Thank you for posting that...Great article...

[BubbaDuke]

That is great. Thanks alot for this post. It is good to see a definate date.

[Southernpride]

Just wish we could get a trailer. Even a teaser would be nice. I mean War of the Worlds doesn't open until July and they got a Superbowl spot!!!

[Capt_Redneck]

Just wish we could get a trailer. Even a teaser would be nice. I mean War of the Worlds doesn't open until July and they got a Superbowl spot!!!

Yeah they did, but that is a Steven Spielberg movie starring Tom Cruise. That is pretty much the top of Hollywood right there...