Not too long ago, a select group of online journalists were flown down to New Orleans, Louisiana to visit the set of BEAUTIFUL CREATURES. I was super excited to be part of the first group to check out a couple of scenes from part one of this fantasy trilogy, but also to hear some awesome jazz and eat delicious southern creole/Cajun cooking, in one of liveliest cities ever.  Yes, I’m ashamed to admit this was my first visit to NOLA, but it was everything I had imagined it would be and more.

I arrived to my extravagant hotel located in the French quarter, steps away from the sweet sound of jazz playing in the streets. Overwhelmed with joy, I took a quick tour of the city, tried some delish dishes, got a whiff of stale liquor walking past sleepless Bourbon Street and turned in for a good night’s rest, as we had an early morning set start.

Slated for release in 2013, the supernatural drama BEAUTIFUL CREATURES is based on the best-selling young adult novels by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, about a small town teenage boy named Ethan, who tries to help a mysterious new girl with magic powers named Lena.  This intriguing fictional tale has a huge following and is rumored to possibly become as big as the Twilight trilogy a la black magic.   I was super pumped when I met with our small group and sweet WB publicist, Alicia to head over to the set to watch our first scene of the day.

When we finally arrived and gathered around to watch the first scene, they were already well into a few takes.  The scene took place in front of a beautiful large country home, in a charming neighborhood quite reminiscent of Gatlin, South Carolina, where the story takes place. This was Emily’s house, Ethan’s ex-girlfriend and he was there to console her house after she fell victim to a supernatural incident.  We watched a few takes and sat down to interview some of the wonderful cast members, who were part of the scene.

Shortly after, we joined the entire cast and crew for a grand gourmet lunch spread.  Every buffet table was impeccable and incredibly hard to resist.  We woofed down our food and continued interviewing some of the other cast members who were eating among us.  I must add that Emmy Rossum, who plays Ridley in the film, was  gracious and charming as she served us fruit drinks, which she insisted we had to try!

Not long after lunch, we prepared to observe our second and last scene for the day, which took place in the small town church.  The entire cast congregated to listen to their weekly Sunday church sermon.  We observed a few takes of what I thought was one of the most moving and impressive sermons I had ever heard.  Once again, we chatted with a few more talented cast members to chat about the film, after they wrapped the scene. All in all, it was one of the most fulfilling days I had had on set in a long time.

Our day wrapped up with a wonderful intimate group dinner organized by Alicia, who made sure we feasted at one of the top restaurants in town.  We tried walking off our over-stuffed bellies by taking in the sounds of blues and jazz coming out of every bar in town, but alas, food coma got the best of us.

Stay tuned for our fun in-depth interviews with cast members, as we near the release of this intoxicating drama, BEAUTIFUL CREATURES.