Our beloved borough is more than just a place to live, work, and visit – it’s a place to film! Let’s take a look at three movies set and filmed prominently in Brooklyn.
Saturday Night Fever
In SNF, John Travolta’s character Tony wants nothing more than to transcend his home in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn for Manhattan (crazy). His costar Donna Pescow, a native to the borough, adapted to her role by retraining herself to speak in a Brooklyn accent. The Bay Ridge pizza shop, hardware store, and dance studio featured in the movie still exist today, although the disco club 2001 Odyssey, which was also located in Bay Ridge, has since been demolished.
Requiem for a Dream
This gritty film spends much of its time in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, where Sara, a widow, lives alone in her apartment. Although rather depressing throughout much of the movie, Brooklyn is also the stuff of dreams – when Harry is dreaming of seeing his girlfriend Marion on an ethereal boardwalk, he’s picturing her on Coney Island’s Steeplechase Pier!
The Squid and the Whale
Although the titular oceanic battle is depicted in an exhibit at Manhattan’s American Museum of Natural History, The Squid in the Whale is set predominately in Brooklyn. The main family home is located in Park Slope, Brooklyn, and when the Bernard (Jeff Daniels) leaves his wife Joan (Laura Linney), he moves to an apartment on the other side of Prospect Park.
We’re famous! And by we, we mean Brooklyn. Brooklyn’s Finest, a cop drama starring Richard Gere, Don Cheadle, Ethan Hawke, and Wesley Snipes, hits theaters tomorrow. Are you going to see it?
Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter, actor Mark Wahlberg, and actor Will Ferrell at Nathan's, Coney Island, on the set of the movie "The Other Guys" (nypost.com)
CONEY ISLAND - Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s announcement regarding the re-development of Coney Island wasn’t the only big event to hit the south end of the borough yesterday.
Derek Jeter, the future hall of fame shortstop for the World Champion New York Yankees, was on Coney Island yesterday to film a movie starring comedian Will Ferrell and actor Mark Wahlberg called “The Other Guys.”
The plot of the movie involves Wahlberg’s character accidentally shooting Jeter in the leg, thus ruining Jeter’s career (which is probably an idea that more than a few people just two hours south of here were probably thinking of when the Yankees won the World Series last week against the Philadelphia Phillies).
In the movie, Jeter plays a fictionalized version of himself several years after his movie character is shot. Let’s just say that the movie version of Jeter in “The Other Guys” doesn’t exactly make him out to be the super-star athlete who has thrilled baseball fans (at least those who are not Mets fans) since the mid-1990′s.
The scene in which Jeter, Ferrell and Wahlberg – a Boston native who is not exactly shy about his allegiance to those Red Sox – appeared was filmed at Nathan’s hot dog stand on the Coney Island Boardwalk.
Unlike the aforementioned Bloomberg, who made his Coney Island announcement from City Hall in Manhattan, at least Jeter made an appearance in the borough.
