South Oxford St. has arrived
Our block appears to have gone Hollywood.
First there was the Keri Russell sighting at the intersection of South Oxford St. and Dekalb Avenue back in April. Looking like she had just come from Fort Greene park, Keri was strolling languidly, chatting on her cell phone. Later, we'd wonder if she had been sharing the news of her pregnancy. (Apparently, Keri likes to invite people to the park to talk about babies: check out the recent interview she gave to EW). Word on the cyber-street is that Ms. Russell has settled--least temporarily--in the 'hood.
Then, this morning, South Oxford was blocked off to accommodate a huge movie crew. South Oxford lost the title of "Best Block in New York" to nearby South Portland by a just few broken windows and disheveled stoops. That may be why South Oxford was chosen as for location shots for "100 Feet," an upcoming thriller by "The Hitcher's" Eric Red. According to IMDb and Daily Variety, the film features Famke Janssen as a woman who murders her abusive husband and is then haunted by his ghost.
This isn't the first time we've seen movie crews in Fort Greene: one cold, dark night last winter, some poor cameramen spent hours circling our block with an immobile Town Car aboard a flatbed truck, trying to get the perfect shot, and a few summers ago, I spotted a group of actors (trust me: they were actors) dressed as Hasidim being filmed roaming the hills of the park. But this is the first time that our entire street has blocked off for the sake of a movie.
I have a bad memory of film shoots in my backyard. Back in 2000 or so, I was banned from entering my apartment on Waverly Ave for hours while an enormous, stressed-out crew finished up with "Vanilla Sky." It was a stinkin' hot summer day, and I was trapped outside with a bag of freshly-laundered, rapidly-wrinkling clothes. All I wanted to do was get back inside my apartment and flop down in front of the fan (we couldn't afford A.C. at the time) but the blockers and stringers or whatever they're called in movie-world parlance wouldn't let me cross the street. I guess they were afraid I'd get caught on film (my mug in "Vanilla Sky" -- the horror!). The experience wasn't New York-cool, it was New York-annoying. I hope that South Oxford St. isn't heading in that direction.