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Filmmakers Flock To Outer Boroughs
By
Jen Carlson
Published Mar 19, 2010
Modified Mar 19, 2010
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By
Jen Carlson
Published Mar 19, 2010
Modified Mar 19, 2010
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Woody Allen may not be rushing back to Brooklyn—he once reflected on his old neighborhood in Flatbush, saying "it was a paradise... if it was still anything like that, I'd move back!"—but according to the Daily News, filmmakers are flocking to the borough (as well as Queens and the Bronx) and leaving Manhattan in the dust. (Though allegedly Staten Island isn't a threat yet.)
The paper looks at three recent movies putting the outer boroughs back to the big screen: Cop Out, Brooklyn's Finest, and City Island (there's even an entire website dedicated to what's filming in Brooklyn right now). Kevin Smith, who directed Cop Out, told them, "Sex and the City owns Manhattan at the moment and before that it was Woody Allen. It just feels like everyone does the Manhattan movie. So we decided to make an outer boroughs movie." Is this really such a new idea though?
Others who have worked in outer borough neighborhoods noted its gritty charm and character. So either grit is outshining glitz and selling more tickets these days... or it's just cheaper and less stressful to film off the island. Smith added, "I talked to film crews who had worked in Manhattan and asked what it was like and they said it sucks because everyone hates you when you shut down the streets. We didn't have that in Brooklyn. We'd shoot a sequence and people would line up on the streets to watch us shoot. They were so sweet to us." Aw, the gritty outer boroughs are getting soft.
Tagged
brooklyn
film
filming
filmmakers
movies
outer boroughs
Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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