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Yonge Street, New York City
Sep. 20th, 2007 09:23 amI was walking down Yonge St. (the longest street in the world -- the CN Tower's dethroning didn't bring a complete end to Toronto's phallic posturing) yesterday and I wandered into New York City. Harlem to judge by the Apollo "Theater", featuring some Harlem Gospel singers, which has sprung into temporary existence next to the undisguised Zanzibar strip club. (It looks like the landmark Toronto Sam the Record Man sign will be visible in the same shots as this iconic Harlem theatre.)
There were weird large wire-frame trash cans placed next to the shiny and virtual inaccessible Toronto-style garbage/recycling fortresses, rusted NYC newspaper boxes had been placed on the sidewalks. The parking lot at Yonge and Gerrard was filled with New York City cabs, NYC police cars, and lots of cars bearing New York City licence ... err, license ... plates. A few blue and white NYC buses went up and down the street as it was cleared of normal Canadian traffic.
All this was for the Incredible Hulk movie that they're filming in Ontario. (Last weekend, I saw a few facades for it on Main St., Hamilton). No sign of the big green guy, but I did see a few Yonge St. windows painted a greenscreen colour so I imagine he'll digitally emerge from them.
What struck me as particularly odd is how many of the cars were that long 1970s variety. I wonder if the new film is a period piece, set around the time of the old Bill Bixby/Lou Fergino Incredible Hulk TV series. Or maybe older cars just sell the illusion of urban decay.
Of course, being in Toronto, I run across film crews every other week. But this is the biggest shoot I've seen, closing down a good chunk of a major street.
My favourite Toronto filming story is from the War of the Worlds TV series, which also wanted American-style urban decay. The filmmakers used to bring in extra garbage to litter the streets. When they went for lunch, the garbage had been cleaned up. They had to put up signs saying "Please don't touch our garbage".
Allen
P.S.: Here's a CityTV article with a photo of the filming. http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_14814.aspx Of course, CityTV might want to note that the 1978 Incredible Hulk was a TV series, not a movie. And while I'm sure elements of the TV series will appear in the film (as its the best known version of the Hulk), it's not a remake any more than the 1989 Batman film was a remake of the Adam West TV show/movie.
P.P.S.: Some links blocked by my work website but Google promises they have more photos. http://www.superherohype.com/news/topnews.php?id=6316 and http://www.superherohype.com/news/topnews.php?id=6312
There were weird large wire-frame trash cans placed next to the shiny and virtual inaccessible Toronto-style garbage/recycling fortresses, rusted NYC newspaper boxes had been placed on the sidewalks. The parking lot at Yonge and Gerrard was filled with New York City cabs, NYC police cars, and lots of cars bearing New York City licence ... err, license ... plates. A few blue and white NYC buses went up and down the street as it was cleared of normal Canadian traffic.
All this was for the Incredible Hulk movie that they're filming in Ontario. (Last weekend, I saw a few facades for it on Main St., Hamilton). No sign of the big green guy, but I did see a few Yonge St. windows painted a greenscreen colour so I imagine he'll digitally emerge from them.
What struck me as particularly odd is how many of the cars were that long 1970s variety. I wonder if the new film is a period piece, set around the time of the old Bill Bixby/Lou Fergino Incredible Hulk TV series. Or maybe older cars just sell the illusion of urban decay.
Of course, being in Toronto, I run across film crews every other week. But this is the biggest shoot I've seen, closing down a good chunk of a major street.
My favourite Toronto filming story is from the War of the Worlds TV series, which also wanted American-style urban decay. The filmmakers used to bring in extra garbage to litter the streets. When they went for lunch, the garbage had been cleaned up. They had to put up signs saying "Please don't touch our garbage".
Allen
P.S.: Here's a CityTV article with a photo of the filming. http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_14814.aspx Of course, CityTV might want to note that the 1978 Incredible Hulk was a TV series, not a movie. And while I'm sure elements of the TV series will appear in the film (as its the best known version of the Hulk), it's not a remake any more than the 1989 Batman film was a remake of the Adam West TV show/movie.
P.P.S.: Some links blocked by my work website but Google promises they have more photos. http://www.superherohype.com/news/topnews.php?id=6316 and http://www.superherohype.com/news/topnews.php?id=6312
