Filming of John Travolta movie on Paris housing estate halted after rioting youths threaten crew and torch their cars



Filming of a new John Travolta movie on a deprived Paris housing estate has been cancelled - after rioting youths torched ten of the production’s cars and threatened crew.

'From Paris With Love' was meant to have highlighted social problems in the grim suburbs which surround the French capital.

Jobs as extras and support staff were even offered to largely immigrant residents who are plagued by unemployment and discrimination.



Riots: Filming of a movie starring John Travolta and Jonathan Rhys Meyers was cancelled due to violent youths on Les Bosquets estate in Paris

But within days of arrived in Les Bosquets, a high rise estate in Montfermeil, in the notorious Seine-Saint-Denis north of the capital, violence broke out.



‘All ten of the vehicles set to be used in the film were burnt out and there were threats aimed at support crew,’ said a production spokesman.

‘There’s no now possibility of Mr Travolta or any of the other stars of the film operating in such a dangerous area.



'The scenes we were mean to do here will now be shot elsewhere.’



‘From Paris With Love’, which will also star British actor Jonathan Rhys Meyers, will be legendary French director Luc Besson’s last film.



All those involved hoped the £30 million movie would draw attention to urban communities alienated from mainstream France.



Troubled area: The deprived northern Paris suburb of Montfermeil was the scene of riots in 2005

Travolta, the star of numerous films including Grease and Pulp Fiction, in particular wanted to get as close as possible to an underclass which suffers some of the worst social problems in Europe.

He and his wife Kelly Preston arrived in Paris earlier this month, and were due to spend the next three months living close to Montfermeil.

Film makers had been allowed into the area on two conditions - that local people were used as extras, and that meals for the film workers were produced by a local company.



Reacting to the cancellation, Montfermeil’s mayor Xavier Lemoine said: ‘I’m very sad for all residents who were due to take part in this production.’

Earlier this year, Mr Sarkozy's government unveiled an £800 million plan aimed at tackling social problems in run down estates like Les Bosquets, investing in job creation schemes, education and transport.



However, the former Interior Minister is best known for his reactionary approach to trouble - invariably sending riot police into what he described as 'ghettoes', and calling lawless locals 'scum' who should be 'washed away with a power hose.'



Responding to such emotive language and behaviour, former Socialist prime minister Laurent Fabius said: 'We need to act on prevention, education, housing, jobs ... and not play the cowboy.'

