Devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana has thrown into question plans to shoot several genre movies in and around New Orleans, Variety reported.

Warner Brothers’ The Reaping was shooting in Baton Rouge, La., and a Warner spokesman told the trade paper that the cast and crew had flown to Austin, Texas. The crew is expected to return to Baton Rouge soon, and they hope to resume shooting Tuesday after a scheduled Labor Day break. But with the crew still out of town, it was too early to determine if any sets had been damaged. The Reaping, starring Hilary Swank, began shooting Aug. 15 and was scheduled to wrap in late October.

The CBS TV movie Vampire Bats, meanwhile, had a week to go on its four-week shoot. Executive producer Frank von Zertner told the trade paper: “Basically what we have left to do can be done anywhere. Most of our exteriors are pretty much accomplished. As luck would have it, we were very lucky with weather.”

Bruckheimer Films has already decided to push back Denzel Washington’s Deja Vu, which had been slated to start Oct. 3 and shoot for at least three weeks. The company had six weeks of prep remaining when the hurricane hit. Once the all-clear comes from authorities, it will take two to three weeks to assess the damage to locations. Six more weeks of prep will be needed after that, the trade paper reported.

Source: SciFi Wire