Tom Hanks' WWII movie set to rehearse on USS Kidd, plans to fire blanks this week

BATON ROUGE - If you were downtown this afternoon, you may have seen a lot of commotion on the USS Kidd. It's all in preparation for Tom Hank's new movie.

The crew will be firing blanks on Wednesday, Mar. 28 from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. on the side of the ship facing Port Allen.

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A movie starring Tom Hanks will be filmed here in Baton Rouge this spring, according to the Louisiana Office of Economic Development. One of the locations for the set is the USS Kidd.

The ship supervisor says they got the official word the World War II-based movie will be filmed on the USS Kidd back in December. But they were already beginning some restoration projects in October. So the movie is being filmed at a perfect time.

While filmmakers scope out the scene, workers are getting their hands dirty.

“He’s grinding it smooth again instead of that splotchy look there so that we can paint it,” said Tim Nessmith, describing some of the restoration work.

Along with smoothing the metal corners, workers are shining signs and restoring equipment to work like it once did back in 1943.

“They want to get some of our 40MM guns operating in a way that moving the barrels back and fourth simulates firing,” explained Nessmith. “Then they'll do their movie magic to make it look like it’s firing.”

It's all in the effort to make sure the ship is movie set ready.

“Part of the reason we were chosen is because the Kidd is so World War II-authentic,” said Nessmith.

Nessmith still doesn't know details on when filming will begin, nor how many scenes will be on the boat. But any exposure will be beneficial.

“People generally look to see where was that filmed at, and they see this sort of a thing does exist and that they can visit it,” said Nessmith. “That has a lot of effect on the ship."

Central casting is currently looking for extras to film in the Baton Rouge area.

The Louisiana Office of Economic Development is expecting the film to employ hundreds of Louisiana residents, with more than half of its $50 million budget being spent in the state.