It seems that most news stories about the film industry in Louisiana involve big, multimillion-dollar productions starring well-known performers imported from Hollywood, or wherever it is those elitists domicile when they’re not out saving the world. This usually means that the only parts available for local actors are roles as bit players and extras.

This month’s Hero, however, is a local production company that has produced a wildly popular movie starring nothing but homegrown talent from less-privileged areas, thus giving Baton Rougeans who never studied performing arts a chance to showcase their innate theatrical skills. The only thing elitist about these guys is their name: Millionaire Entertainment.

Their docudrama, Thugging It & Loving It, has had people in the Capital City buzzing for weeks on end. As stated on the DVD’s packaging, it depicts true life on the streets of Baton Rouge, showing scenes filmed on location in about a dozen, colorful, area neighborhoods.

Some scenes feature performers displaying lots of cash and illegal drugs. Others show them handling automatic weapons – including assault rifles – and occasionally firing them indiscriminately in various directions. And they do all this while brilliantly employing authentic street-thug vernacular delivered with a spot-on, Baton Rouge ghetto dialect.

While at first glance it may appear that the people shown in Thugging It & Loving It are nothing more than gun-toting, drug-dealing lowlifes terrorizing the neighborhoods they prey upon, the good folks at Millionaire Entertainment reassure us that these are professional actors. In fact, these actors are such professionals, they don’t even use blanks when firing their very real Glocks and AK-47s over the head of the camera operator.

Now some have criticized these enterprising filmmakers for marketing a video that glorifies crime, violence, and drug use, but Millionaire Entertainment’s Varlon Route insisted the picture actually benefits members of those communities represented. Speaking with WBRZ’s Chris Nakamoto, Route said, “All we did, we gave people in different neighborhoods a chance to promote theirselves because other people wouldn’t never gave them that chance. So, if anything, we helping the community out. We helping people.”

We couldn’t agree more. Who knows how much this film could help further the acting careers of its cast? Perhaps Thugging It & Loving It could very well turn some undiscovered thespian from the Capital City into the next 50 Cent. Chances are at least one person in the video has been shot nine times.

As for people being scared of the crime portrayed (and possibly instigated) by Thugging It & Loving It, Route said it’s just a movie. “I don’t understand what to be scared of because you wouldn’t be scared of any other movie you watched,” Route contended. “I mean, are you scared of Arnold Schwarzenegger? No.”

That’s a perfect analogy, because Arnold’s acting career was launched when he appeared in Pumping Iron, a documentary about a bunch of scary-looking guys who liked to show off their guns and occasionally use drugs. Of course, Arnold did have an advantage over most cast members of Thugging It & Loving It in that he was easier to understand.

The bottom line is Millionaire Entertainment is opening up a whole new niche market of quality films featuring lesser-known performers. And don’t be surprised if, come Oscar time, you see Thugging It & Loving It nominated for Best Costume Design and Best Original Screenplay, because if not, someone at the Academy will likely get a cap in they ass.