Hey kids, let's put on a show!

So last night Serdic and I spent a couple of hours out on my balcony, watching them film a movie on the street below my building. Pretty cool. It was amazing to me how many people and how much set up it takes to film a 30 second scene. I was mostly amused by their efforts to turn a downtown Ottawa street into a downtown NYC street -- they brought in US Post mailboxes, NYC yellow cabs, and a hot dog cart, covered up identifying details on signs and advertising and, my favourite part, placed overflowing garbage cans on every corner. Heh. I guess Ottawa's just not dirty enough for them.

There were no BIG STARS OMG! in the movie, but two fairly well known tv names ... James Denton (Desperate Housewives) and Rob Morrow (Northern Exposure). We could only see the top of their heads from 12 stories up, but it was still kind of neat to watch them rehearse several times and then shoot a few takes. In between bouts of pouring rain, which I'm sure was just EXACTLY what the director wanted. [/sarcasm] The extras wandered around in the background, the two cabs circled the block endlessly, James Denton repeatedly checked his hair and reflection in the window of the limo his character was riding in, and Rob Morrow messed around with the cameras between takes.

Just another evening in downtown Ottawa.