The cast and crew of Lee Daniels' new movie The Butler was evacuated from New Orleans, Louisiana as Tropical Storm Isaac hit America's Gulf Coast.
Actors including Cuba Gooding, Jr., Alan Rickman, Oprah Winfrey, Robin Williams, Lenny Kravitz, Melissa Leo and Forest Whitaker have been working on the movie, but production was shut down when bad weather threatened the location.
Minka Kelly and Jane Fonda were due to travel to New Orleans on Monday (27Aug12) but their flights were cancelled, and it has now been revealed the rest of the cast was moved to safe locations outside of the city last weekend (25-26Aug12).
A source tells New York Post gossip column Page Six, "The cast and crew for the film is huge, and it was a giant operation to get them out. But everyone has been taken to safety. The stars were flown out over the weekend right up until the airport closed."
Castmember Alex Pettyfer hinted at the drama in a post on his Twitter.com page, writing, "Evacuating Louisiana. Hurricane Isaac please be gentle! Everyone be safe!"
Tropical Storm Isaac was upgraded to a Category 1 hurricane this week (beg27Aug12), but later downgraded again.
Production on The Butler is expected to resume next week (beg03Sep12).