Interesting . I was sure I had read that it was about a New York taxi cab. I was excited that he would be shooting in NY again.

And I am starting to wonder if there will be a NT3 now.

Bad Lieutenant, Hungry Rabbit Jumps, Trespass, Sonny, Drive Angry, Zandalee, any more?

It seems New Orleans, Vegas and New York are all places Nic has made quite a few movies.

http://www.nola.com/movies/index.ssf/2011/01/nicolas_cage_actioner_medallio.html

Nicolas Cage actioner 'Medallion' gets a rewrite -- and some Mardi Gras flavor to go with it

Published: Wednesday, January 19, 2011, 12:40 PM     Updated: Wednesday, January 19, 2011, 12:51 PM
By Mike Scott, The Times-Picayune

You'll have to forgive director Simon West if he's in a bit of a New Orleans state of mind lately.

The filmmaker who made a name for himself on such big-budget flicks as "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider" and "Con Air" has been splitting much of his time lately between two tasks: Promoting his latest film, the New Orleans-shot actioner "The Mechanic," starring Jason Statham; and prepping for his next one, the New Orleans-shot actioner "Medallion," starring Nicolas Cage.

With that much Big Easy going on in his life, it was only natural for West to rewrite the "Medallion" script to reset it in New Orleans instead of New York.

"Nic Cage is a bank robber who is released on Fat Tuesday and goes to see his daughter who he hasn't seen for eight years, so she doesn't know him," West said, describing the "Medallion" plot. "Unfortunately, she gets kidnapped that day by one of his old bank-robbing partners, because his old partner thinks he's still got $10 million stashed away from a previous bank robbery. And he's got to try to find his daughter in the mayhem of Fat Tuesday."

As with most recent film projects, the production was drawn to town by the state's tax incentives for filmmakers. Since he had just worked here on "The Mechanic" -- and gotten a feel for the rhytym and flavors of the city -- West embraced the idea of resetting it here.

"The original script was set in New York, and the sort of a needle in a haystack was (Cage's character was trying to find) one yellow cab amongst 16,000 yellow cabs," he said. "So I transposed it to New Orleans, and now the needle in a haystack is, how the hell do you find someone on Fat Tuesday when the streets are just packed with people? It's a perfect time to hide someone."

"Medallion" - which seems ripe for a title change, given the script tweaks ("Doubloon," anyone?) -- will set up for preproduction Jan. 28, with filming scheduled to begin March 28.

It is being produced by Nu Image/Millennium, the same outfit behind "The Mechanic."

This is the latest in a string of Lousiana-shot films for Cage, a former New Orleans resident. In addition to shooting "Bad Leiutenant: Port of Call New Orleans" in New Orelans in 2008 and the forthcoming "Hungry Rabbit Jumps" last year, his next film to be released -- "Drive Angry 3D" -- was shot last year in Shreveport.