Life in the West Village

There were 3 separate movies being filmed in the West Village last night, all within a 4-block radius. Every time you go to the Village, you run into movie crews. It’s fun to watch them set up and everything, and it’s fun to look for stars – but if I actually lived in the Village, that kind of thing would get old REALLY fast.

“Hi. You can’t come out your front steps for 3 days this week.”

“Uh – what? Why?”

“We’re filming Kirsten Dunst’s new movie here.”

“But … my steps … my life!!”

“But – Kirsten Dunst!!!”

“Oh, who gives a crap about Kirsten Dunst! The new Robin Williams movie was filmed on my street LAST week … I am OVER the movie-star thing, okay? I need to be able to come out of my house when I feel like it!”

The West Village is a prime movie-making neighborhood. There are certain streets (Barrow Street, Bedford) where … if there were not cars parked along the curb … you could believe that you were in the late 1800s. Nothing would give our present-time away.

Warren Beatty shot the whole beginning section of Reds right in Greenwich Village – only he put horses and buggies on the streets. Nothing else had to be changed, because the landscape there, the architecture is from another time. It is untouched.

It’s beautiful: the cobblestones, the trees, the wrought-iron lampposts, the brownstones …

…and …

around every corner … a massive bustling movie crew.

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16 Responses to Life in the West Village

  1. Patrick says:

    I feel your pain. Pasadena, while nowhere near as lovely as the West Village, constantly has films crews running around. If you knew the area you’d see it in print ads, tv commercials, and movies. The city has an entire department dedicated to film location help. The Father of the Bride house is on my street. It’s a few blocks down where low-lifes like me can’t afford to live. I have yet to see anyone famous. However, I did see Avril Lavign (sp?) in her Lexus SUV on Barham Blvd. and the 101 on Sunday. Does that count?

  2. If Kirsten Dunst were filming a movie outside MY front steps, I wouldn’t register a single objection. I would invite her in, however.

  3. red says:

    Steve –

    And Liv Tyler’s house was right down the block …

  4. red says:

    Steve –

    Shit, I forgot to make a joke. I hate it when that happens.

    You’d HAVE to let Kirsten Dunst in, because she’d be shivering on your doorstep, saying, “Brrr. It’s cold in here. There must be some Toros in the atmosphere…”

    Why yes, Kirsten, come on in…

  5. Patrick says:

    Hey Sheila, do you watch American Idol? (Give me a break, ok? I’m bored, Titanic girl.) I was watching this evening and they filmed it at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium.

    Is Kirsten Dunst that girl that was in Spiderman?

  6. Patrick says:

    And why not delete that repeat comment so I don’t look like an even bigger dweeb?

  7. red says:

    Patrick –

    I don’t have TV. So no American idol!!

    And yes – Kirsten Dunst was in Spiderman. But her greatest role, as far as I’m concerned, was in Bring It ON.

    She got her huge break at age 10, playing the little vampire-girl in INterview with the Vampire.

    Very talented woman.

    Deleted the double comment.

    I love Titanic.

  8. Dave J says:

    Patrick, I remember someone from some film talking about shooting some of Pasadena as a residential part of Beverly Hills because it “looked more like the audience thinks Beverly Hills should look like than the real thing does.”

    Liv Tyler and Kirsten Dunst? Um, er…[mouth gaping open, stunned speechless, for once] ;-)

  9. red says:

    Dave J –

    I know. The thought of the two of them together is painful.

    It would be like, for me, having Russell Crowe and Ewan McGregor in the same film. That would just be UNFAIR.

  10. bill says:

    Film crews. We get them here! Invading hordes of scenic vampires, sucking up the quaintness of our small town aura, stealing our provincial soul in 35mm Panavision. Semis and cops and roadblocks. Sneering smug crew members in pony tails and movie caps, walkie talkies slung low like six-shooters, insisting you CAN’T park here! There’s a ‘movie’ being filmed! Maybe you can find space at the crusifiction down the road, because THIS is important. Our clean fresh Rockwellian air turned dirty and suffocating with ‘attitude’…

    Whatever happened to my child-like wonder for showbiz? Sigh…

  11. red says:

    Well, actually, just to be clear:

    I don’t actually live in the West Village. I was just trying to imagine what it would be like for the residents of that neighborhood.

    From my side of the fence, having done a couple films – there is nothing more freaking thrilling than a movie set on location. The crew, the craft services, being out in the open … the sense of collaboration, camaraderie, a “can-do” kind of thing.

    “Okay, so we need to make sure that those floodlights don’t reflect in those windows.”

    And those brilliant lighting guys make it happen. The words “No” or “It can’t be done” are not in their vocabulary.

    But still. I can sympathize with those who live in the Village, and have to trip over cables when they walk out of their house.

  12. Patrick says:

    “looked more like the audience thinks Beverly Hills should look like than the real thing does.”

    Dave, Sometimes it does. Film Office

  13. Best Kirsten Dunst film- The Virgin Suicides. Sofia C. framed every shot to make her look like a goddess, much like the ass-closeups of Scarlett in “Lost in Translation”- makes your wonder about Sofia…

  14. red says:

    Oh yes, I loved Virgin Suicides.

    And although I am a straight woman, if I can’t appreciate the beauty of a Kirsten Dunst, then there is no hope for me.

  15. Mr. Lion says:

    Most film crews annoy me, especially when they drag along half an aircraft carrier worth of gear to shoot a five minute scene, which of course requires half a day to set up, and the rest to strike. Especially when all a given shot usually requires is a few lights and a steadycam.

    Damn unions.

    Anyway, yeah, the Village is nice visually. There are a few interesting spots buried from casual notice that one could use as the subject of a film, much less a background.

    That said, the proportionally high number of galactically stupid hippies in the area tends to keep my visits rather short. ;)

  16. Dave J says:

    “Galactically stupid” = one of the redeeming dialogue highlights of an otherwise galactically stupid film, A Few Good Men.

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