Oliver Stone's September 11 Will Film Mostly in L.A.

Call it sensitivity or call it fear: Olive Stone's much talked about September 11 movie, based on the rescue of two Port Authority officers, is shooting only a few scenes in New York, with most of the filming on Hollywood soundstages. The movie is based only on the accounts of Sergeant John McCouglin (to be played by Nicolas Cage -yes, that's why he's been sporting the 'stache) and Officer William Jimeno (played by Michael Pena), who were trapped under World Trade Center debris for 22 hours. Producer Michael Shamberg says, "We're not doing the `Towering Inferno-Titanic' version...we just felt after discussing it that frankly, it's easier to do it in Los Angeles." Yeah, like the September 11 miniseries was easier to film in Toronto. But the film is shooting until mid-November, with a tentative release date of August 11, just in time for the fifth anniversary. Director Paul Greengrass's film about Flight 93 (titled Flight 93), the flight that crashed in Pennsylvannia, may be released before the Stone movie, which means it'll be the summer of 9/11 - just in time for the midterm elections.

Gothamist was at a NY Film Festival event right after September 11 where Oliver Stone said that the attacks were because of corporate America. He was heartily booed. And we just found some pictures of Cage as McLoughlin on Just Jared.