FILMING IN TROY
Scenes from “Motherless Brooklyn” shot throughout Collar City Thursday afternoon
TROY, N.Y. >> The downtown area was filled with several classic cars throughout the afternoon Thursday as a production film company was filming scenes throughout the Collar City.
“We’re just doing visual effects shots for a movie called ‘ Motherless Brooklyn’,” said Eddy Collyns, who is a location manager with VFX Unit In His Hat Productions, Inc.
Collyns said that the film is being directed by Edward Norton and that the shots are supposed to be from 1958 Brooklyn.
According to IMDb’s website, the film is set to release in 2019 and the cast includes several stars such as Bruce Willis, Bobby Cannavale, Leslie Mann, Alec Baldwin, Norton, and several others.
The website says the film follows Lionel Essrog -who is played by Norton -, a lonely private detective afflicted with Tourette’s Syndrome, as he ventures to solve the murder of his mentor and only friend, Frank Minna - who is played by Willis.
Along with several streets being filmed in the downtown district, the film company also filmed on Jefferson Street and in Washington Park in Troy. Officials with the Troy Police department helped make sure that filming went as smoothly as possible.
Officials with the Downtown Troy Business Improvement District said that it has been nice to work with the film production company and that they hope it leads to more films coming to Troy.
“It’s fun to see that people are recognizing the ar-
“It’s fun to see that people are recognizing the architecture of the city and the community here that just feels like the old days. [Troy] is a perfect setting for a lot of films that could be here eventually.” — Downtown Troy BID Executive Director Katie Hammon
chitecture of the city and the community here that just feels like the old days,” said Downtown Troy BID Executive Director Katie Hammon. “[ Troy] is a perfect setting for a lot of films that could be here eventually.”
Officials with Rensselaer County Tourism were also pleased to see another film happening in Rensselaer County.
“When we bring location scouts around, they absolutely love this area,” said Christine Golden, Rensselaer County film commissioner, who said this film is roughly the sixth film to take place in Rensselaer County since a new NYS Film Tax Credit Program took effect in 2016. “[The Film Tax Credit Program] encourages films to come here, it’s less money to film here than say in New York City.”
Golden, along with city officials said that although the county does not receive any funding for the films coming here, however, when film productions come to locations throughout the county they usually will end staying in local hotels, going to local catering businesses and restaurants.
“It’s tremendously exciting for the city to once again be a location for a motion picture, in this particular case, apparently a major motion picture,” said John Salka, a spokesman for Troy Mayor Patrick Madden. “We’ve sort of become this destination for production companies looking to use Troy as a location for one of their films.”