Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0000904, Wed, 24 Jan 1996 11:08:38 -0800

Subject
Re: Lolita Filming in New Orleans (fwd)
Date
Body
From: Robert Cook <rcook@rhi.hi.is>

Now that we have learned about Sonoma, would Nabokovians be interested in
seeing this article from the New Orleans Times-Picayune of November 16
last? It was under the "PEOPLE" column, compiled by J.E. Bourgoyne, along
with comments on Helen Reddy's filing for divorce and Anthony Quinn's
alimony payments. I copy the "Lolita" passage in full:

Director Adrian Lyne, who explored romantic obsession in "Fatal Attraction"
and "9 1/2 Weeks," is tackling his favorite subject in New Orleans,
shooting a remake of "Lolita."

Lyne, who hopes to duplicate the success of Stanley Kubrick's first screen
version of Vladimir Nabokov's erotic classic, has been filming scenes here
with Jeremy Irons, who portrays professor Humbert Humbert, and high school
sophomore Dominique Swain, a 15-year-old newcomber who plays the object of
Humbert's desire. "Lolita" co-stars Melanie Griffith and Frank Langella had
no scenes here.

Among the Big Easy sights in the movie, doubling for sites in Nabokov's
story of hopeless love: Loyola University, the New Orleans Athletic Club, a
house on Toulouse Street in the French Quarter and the auditorium of the
Masonic Temple Building.

Filming is expected to wrap in New Orleans by Thanksgiving, when cast and
crew will move on to other Louisiana locations.

End of "Lolita" passage. If it is not generally known, I might point out
that "The Big Easy" is New Orleans. I was surprised, on a recent visit, to
learn that New Orleans was chosen as a site for the filming, and that (if
my informants were well-informed) Loyola University is to be the Beardsley
School. My recollection is that only one sentence in the novel refers to
that city. Here is the perceptive sentence:

Bourbon Street (in a town named New Orleans) whose sidewalks, said the tour
book, "may (I liked the "may") feature entertainment by pickaninnies who
will (I liked the "will" even better) tap-dance for pennies" (what fun),
while "its numerous small and intimate night clubs are thronged with
visitors" (naughty).

Robert Cook, University of Iceland