Will Filming The Hangover Part III Leave Orange County with a Splitting Headache?

In the summer of 2013, movie fans will likely be rolling in the aisles to The Hangover Part III, which is to reunite "The Wolfpack" (a.k.a. Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Justin Bartha and our bearded opener page boy, Zack Galifianakis).

But the road to boffo box office pisses off some locals who reportedly accuse the production of blocking access to a critical coastal freeway.

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"Did you say a right or a left on Bonita Canyon?"

It is the understanding of Costa Mesa City Councilman Steven Mensinger that the Corona del Mar (73) Freeway will be closed intermittently Oct. 20-21 between the 405 freeway and Jamboree Road for The Hangover Part III filming, reports The Daily Pilot.

A check of the San Joaquin Hills Transportation Corridor board agenda for August shows members considered a request by Warner Bros. Pictures for "permit work" on those dates, with the toll road agency compensated for lost revenues and other costs. The public portion of the 73 becomes a toll road that connects with the 5 freeway in South County.

Councilman Mensinger

As the effected portion is in Newport Beach, city officials there have met with Caltrans to develop detours during the closures, a city spokeswoman tells the Pilot, with the Costa Mesa city manager confirming for the paper that detours are planned there also.

But Mensinger, who is running for reelection, used the closures to tee off on Caltrans, reportedly calling them, "another example of a state agency that just does what it wants without understanding what it does to a local community."

Probably more of a Broken Lizard fan. Actually, given the lack of traffic on the 73 toll road, which has never met a ridership projection it's met, one wonders why Warner Bros. even bothered to take out a permit. Just pay the toll and start rolling, baby . . . 

Galifiankis, who previously let it slip The Hangover Part II would be set in Thailand, told Rolling Stone last year that The Hangover Part III will be a road picture about a Wolfpack plan to spring his character Alan from a mental institution.

Director and co-writer Todd Phillips is back in the driver's seat.

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