Filming In Brooklyn

I set off today in search of 30 Rock, a show that so far has not filmed much in Brooklyn (to my knowledge anyway).  I found a small crew setting up on Adams Street near Tillary, but the cast and the rest of the crew were not due at that location until later in the afternoon.

I finally found the set in Cadman Plaza Park.  It was made up to look like a party, with a pinata and a big cake.

I’m guessing based on this actress’ costume that it’s supposed to be a quinceanera celebration.

I had no idea that Salma Hayek was going to be there, but when she arrived, even from afar it was unmistakeably her.

The scene that she was shooting started with the party-goers doing the Macarena, so they all rehearsed the dance a few times:

I wanted to get closer, but they were keeping the fans back.  It was lunchtime on a beautiful day downtown, so there were a lot of people trying to watch.  I did notice, though, that the paparazzi were right up next to the set.  So I walked closer, and said that I was paparazzi.  When asked to go back to the sidewalk I actually heard myself say, “Just because I have a small lens doesn’t mean I’m not paparazzi.”  I feel dirty.  But I did get to watch from a few feet away for a while.

Soon after that Alec Baldwin arrived.

Once shooting started the paparazzi started jockying for position.  I’ve never stood with them before and soon realized that it was a blood sport.  Each time one got in a good position another one would get in front of that one.  There was pushing and shoving and two guys almost came to blows.  The phrase “Don’t fuck with me man!” was uttered right before someone from the show came over and told them all to cool it, that they were distracting the actors.

It was a long scene, starting with the Macarena and ending with Salma Hayek making some sort of announcement involving Alec Baldwin, and then Mr. Baldwin walking out of the scene with this little cutie:

The scene was shot four or five times.  In the beginning the Macarena music was played so that the actors would all be in sync while dancing, but then as soon as the Macarena was over the music was turned off and the actors continued to dance around in the background without music.  During the dialogue on the first couple of takes the group of photographers was constantly reprimanded for making shutter click sounds, since they were so close, but eventually they settled down.

In between shots, Ms. Hayek hung around with the other actors and crew and had her make-up touched up, staying under an umbrella most of the time to protect her from the unusually strong October sun, while Mr. Baldwin alternated between taking a rest and socializing with some of the babies on the set.

It was around that time that I made the fatal mistake of approaching Mr. Baldwin.  I stood patiently beside him for a minute while he fussed over a baby (he really was being sweet with the kids), and just wanted to give him a business card and tell him that I appreciated that the show was filming in Brooklyn.  But before I got a chance a P.A. came over and asked me to leave him alone.  And once I had left the pack of photographers I wasn’t able to get back over there.  Oh well, I had gotten just about as many pictures as I could anyway, so I left to try to find Fringe in Prospect Park (which I did, and will be posting about later).

Originally posted on Filming In Brooklyn