To hear it from two Straw Dogs crew people, two major features — Warner Bros.’ Jonah Hex and Disney’s Secretariat — didn’t shoot in Shreveport due to lobbying from their respective (and married-to-each-other) stars, Josh Brolin and Diane Lane. Their motive, of course, was Brolin’s ridiculous bust in Shreveport in the summer of ’08 after finishing work on Oliver Stone‘s W. (i.e., the infamous Stray Cat altercation), and all the subsequent legal obstinacy from the Shreveport judicial system.

I subsequently told this story to some Straw Dogs honchos, and they didn’t tell me I was wrong. If there are other wrinkles, please inform.

Due to open next June, Jonah Hex stars Brolin as the title character (a wild west bounty hunter) with Megan Fox, Michael Fassbender, Michael Shannon, Will Arnett and John Malkovich. The director is Jimmy Hayward with a screenplay by Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor. It shot all over Louisiana — just not in Shreveport. It shot studio interiors in Sylmar, California.

Due for release in October 2010, Randall Wallace‘s Secretariat — a biopic of Penny Chenery, owner of the 1973 Triple Crown winner Secretariat — stars Lane as Chenery with costars John Malkovich (double duty!), Dylan Walsh and Scott Glenn. It used locations in Kentucky and Louisiana with Shreveport cut out of the pie.