Hollyweird Comes To Mt. Pleasant

So the big crew and cast of a fancy schmanzy Hollywood Film came to our corner of the world a couple weeks back. The movie State of Play filmed all around DC and made a special stop right in front of and above our hardware store. The production crew arrived three days in advance of the shoot to prepare and install a new Pfeiffer's Hardware sign.

Russell Crowe's character, a scruffy journalist, is supposed to live above our hardware store. So there were some exterior shots of Ben Affleck and Russell Crowe walking on our street, as well as some interiors of the apartment. Even though I am the self-admitted People Magazine addict, it was actually Todd who was in his seventh heaven. He spent days becoming friends with the 50 or so production crew who milled around our store, redid our display window, and painted and fixed and lit the apartment upstairs.

This is a fake machine belonging to the "Washington Globe" the fictitious newspaper Russell Crowe's character works for.

Do you think Ron Price picked this weekend to visit us by chance, or because he wanted to see the movie production?? That's our friend Caesar holding Loretta Lou. Caesar had the privilege (?) of putting his hands on Russell Crowe's chest to hold him back and calm him down when Russell became enraged at an obnoxious member of the public who was interrupting filming. True story.

The night they actually shot, there were something like 300 people standing in and around the plaza in front of the hardware store hoping to catch a glimpse of the stars. It was a carnival-like atmosphere. Really, really fun and different and bizarre and TOTALLY FREAKING COOL!
Russell was pleased.
Ben was pleased.

We were beside ourselves.

The movie comes out in April 2009. And unless the entire scene winds up on the editing room floor (which happens), Pfeiffer's Hardware should make it into the movie!