Taron Egerton saves Los Angeles’ famous airport from disaster Hand luggage – but in reality the film was never filmed there.

In Hand luggageEgerton, 35, plays a Transportation Security Administration officer at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) who accidentally falls victim to a plot by a mysterious terrorist group (portrayed by Jason Bateman and Theo Rossi) attempting to smuggle a dangerous weapon into an airport Departure with hand luggage.

While the film takes place almost entirely in LAX, the production was filmed in New Orleans, director Jaume Collet-Serra told Netflix’s Tudum.

“We were incredibly lucky to be able to use a disused airport as a backdrop,” said Collet-Serra, known for films such as Black Adam And The shallowssaid. “We took over the old MSY (Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport) in New Orleans and remodeled/decorated it to look like LAX. It was so exciting to have all the space at our disposal and to be able to explore all these areas of an airport that we as passengers don’t normally get to see.”

Hand luggage Primarily, Egerton’s character Ethan interacts with Bateman’s character – known as the Traveler – via a headset sent through the TSA baggage checkpoint. Egerton rushes to uncover the traveler’s attack plan and save everyone at the airport, including his newly pregnant girlfriend (Sofia Carson), while Danielle Deadwyler plays an LA cop who investigates the situation from a different angle.

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It was a unique challenge for Collet-Serra and his team to capture Egerton in the role of a TSA officer checking his luggage as he goes through security.

“Our story in particular has a long section where we follow Ethan at his post operating a TSA bag scanner, so he’s sitting in a chair staring at a screen with very little room to move,” the filmmaker said. “It was definitely a challenge to shoot, but it also really helped us create the tension and claustrophobia that Ethan feels when he’s taunted by Traveler and can’t leave his little bubble.”

The filmmaker also said the production utilized the knowledge of two TSA advisors familiar with LAX. “They put our actors through proper TSA training before we shot the film, and they were on set to advise us if something didn’t look realistic,” he noted.

Hand luggage is now streaming on Netflix.