Hollywood Comes to Lower Manhattan

Watching movie and TV shoots — it’s one part of city life that never gets old. New York has been the setting for some of the world’s most beloved films and shows. From the classic Godfather films and Taxi Driver, to the more recent Spider-Man films - several scenes from Spider-Man 2 were shot right in front of the store, or just across from us in City Hall Park. Even Seinfeld and Sex And The City filmed a few major scenes in this area. Lower Manhattan is where movies go when they need a scene that just screams New York City.

Seeing a movie crew setting up their shots is just another part of the landscape. Still, there’s a magic to the movies, even for jaded & cynical New Yorkers. When we see a shoot happening, we stop & check it out. Why not? Maybe we’ll get lucky & see a celebrity without their make-up on, or get picked as an extra. Those things may not happen, but it’s still fun to feel like you’re part of Hollywood for a second.

So when we heard that the side street along J&R was going to be used for filming, we grabbed our cameras and headed downstairs. There’s an excitement around movie shoots, and having that kind of thrill around our store was great. Check out the crowd gathering in these shots - you can almost see the energy. The crowds are trying to see what’s going on, the PA’s telling everyone to get out of the way, the techs are weaving through the crowd to set up cameras and props - there’s something thrilling about it all.

The movie they were shooting for is called Jumper. It’s a science-fiction piece about an abused child who develops teleporting powers. You can see one of the stars, Tom Sturridge, in a couple of the shots we’ve posted. Jumper seems interesting, so we looked online and found two reviews of the book — a really positive one here, and a less-than-positive one here. The unflattering review hasn’t put us off; it seems like a great concept and we’re considering buying the book.

It was kinda funny to see them set of bags of fake garbage when there’s of the real stuff to go around. Even funnier, they had those old-fashioned metal garbage cans you never see on the street anymore. Makes you wonder about the year of the movie’s setting. It’s also fun seeing them lay down fake snow in the middle of the summer; in case you ever wondered, they make snow in summer by mixing cotton with salt, then wetting it down.

We’ll be happy to see the movie and wait for the scene we saw them film. It’ll give us a smile, to be reminded of how we were there & saw a little movie magic as it happened.

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