By Jeff Otto
After the devastation of Katrina, the road to recovery in New Orleans has been a long and arduous one. Once a hotbed of music, tourism and general debauchery, both tourists and commerce alike have been understandably retiscent about returning to one of America's most unique cities.
To lure the lucrative film industry back into town in the hopes of pumping some much-needed cash into the local economy, the city has been able to offer a very sizable tax break - And it's been working quite nicely. Now many of the U.S. productions that might have been tempted to cross the border to Vancouver or Montreal are heading across the Mississippi and keeping that money in America.
One of the latest productions to hit New Orleans is an adaptation of Darren Shan's popular U.K. young adult series, Cirque Du Freak. For those unfamiliar with Shan's work, his 12-part book series is kind of like a cross between Tod Browning's Freaks, Twilight and Harry Potter. Although the new movie isn't technically set in New Orleans, it would be difficult imagine a more suitable venue for a story involving circus freaks and vampires.
Dark Horizons recently spent a day exploring the lavish colorful sets of the new production, which was nearing the final stages of its 75-day shoot. As of now, we are sworn to secrecy on our full reports but we will keep you posted. We can tell you that we spoke with director Paul Weitz (About a Boy, American Pie) and star John C. Reilly, who plays Larten Crepsley. We observed some shooting and also got a brief peak at a bearded Salma Hayek (not as unattractive as you might imagine, which makes me a bit uncomfortable).
One nice surprise was an unexpected appearance by Willem DaFoe (wearing a John Waters-esque pencil-thin mustace), who plays Gavner Purl. Other casting includes Ken Watanabe as the Tall Man, Patrick Fugit as Snake Boy and Orlando Jones as Alexander Ribs. Relative newcomer Chris Massoglia plays the lead role, a 14-year old boy who joins the circus and soon finds himself at the center of a battle between the Vampires and the rival Vampanese.
Shan's story is aimed at young adult audiences but from the looks of things, Weitz and Co. will be heading into some very dark and bizarre territory. After all, how tame could a story of freaks and bloodsuckers really be? Right now a release date isn't set, but Universal is hinting at sometime in early 2009. More to come in our full report. 
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