Major thriller films at hospital

Stars Jennifer Lopez, Jason Statham

“Parker,” a movie featuring action star Jason Statham and Jennifer Lopez filmed inside St. Charles Parish Hospital for nearly 14 hours last Monday.

Statham stars as Parker, who is stiffed by his partners in a bank robbery. He vows revenge and tracks them to their next job, a jewelry heist in Palm Beach. With the help of his lover, Claire, and real estate agent Leslie Mackenzie, Parker stalks his victims and their loot, according to Internet Movie Database.

Quinn Landry, the director of marketing for St. Charles Parish Hospital, said movie workers spent almost two weeks prepping the hospital for the day-long shoot.

“Their staff really took care of us and they helped out by performing landscaping at the hospital and even painting a couple of areas,” he said. “They did a really good job.”

Landry said that filming primarily took place in the cardiology department, but that some scenes were also shot in the emergency room entrance and in the hospital’s green hallways.

Landry, who worked in movie production before taking a job with the hospital, said a friend who works on “Parker” called him when looking for a place to shoot hospital scenes.

Landry recommended St. Charles.

This is the second major film in the past year to film at the hospital. “The Fields,” a thriller starring Sam Worthington of “Avatar” fame, shot at the hospital last year.

“I think our hospital makes a great location to film at because we are a small, rural hospital,” Landry said. “We are busy, but we’re not so busy that we can’t accommodate the filmmakers.”

In addition to Statham and Lopez, the movie also stars Nick Nolte, Michael Chiklis and Wendell Pierce, who plays Antoine Batiste in “Treme.”