listing on castingnetworks.com<\/a> describes the production as a feature film and seeks \u201cmilitary types\u201d for the Mother\u2019s Day shoot.<\/p>\nThe plans have drawn concern from some Chinatown residents, who say they were caught off guard by the timing and wartime imagery on a holiday when families typically gather at neighborhood restaurants.<\/p>\n
Paramount Pictures did not immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did a locations department contact listed on the flier.<\/p>\n
Under city rules, notices for filming don\u2019t go up until about 48 hours before filming. That’s meant to help minimize the chance that a shoot will draw larger crowds, according to the Mayor\u2019s Office of Media and Entertainment.<\/p>\n
The agency coordinated closely with the production, community stakeholders and city agencies for months to \u201cminimize disruption and ensure the operation is conducted safely and responsibly,\u201d Commissioner Rafael Espinal said in a statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe production has also worked with several local Chinatown businesses and organizations directly as part of the shoot,\u201d Espinal said. \u201cFilm and television production supports thousands of New York City jobs and small businesses, and we remain committed to balancing that economic activity with the needs and quality of life of local communities, including being mindful of production concentration in heavily impacted neighborhoods.\u201d<\/p>\n
Still, some residents said the plans weren\u2019t well communicated \u2014 and they aren\u2019t happy about it.<\/p>\n
Susan Lee, a Chinatown community activist and a former candidate for City Council, said she first learned of the shoot Wednesday night through an Instagram post from Explore Chinatown.<\/p>\n
She began posting about it on social media and said she heard from neighbors and small business owners who were frustrated by the timing. Lee said three friends told her they were rescheduling Mother’s Day plans because of the shoot.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of my friends said it best: \u2018What, Chinatown has no mothers?\u2019\u201d Lee said. \u201cWhy are they doing this on Mother’s Day?\u201d<\/p>\n
She said she’s worried the parking disruptions would hurt local businesses and the military imagery would startle seniors who likely haven\u2019t had more advance warning about the filming.<\/p>\n
Lee connected Gothamist with other residents, including a longtime Chinatown physician and a member of a local block association, who shared similar concerns.<\/p>\n
Dr. Wah Lee, a physician who has practiced in Chinatown for nearly 20 years and is unrelated to Susan Lee, said he saw the notices outside his building Thursday morning, three days before filming.<\/p>\n
He said he and his neighbors are accustomed to film crews using the iconic neighborhood as a backdrop \u2014 “Law & Order” shoots regularly nearby, he noted \u2014 but the wartime imagery gave him pause.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have treated patients that have, you know, gone through World War II, and people from the Vietnam War,\u201d he said. “If they’re not sure what’s going on, they look out the window and they see a bunch of soldiers and a tank rolling down the street, I’m just concerned for their health and wellbeing.”<\/p>\n
He also questioned the timing. Families, he said, typically gather at neighborhood restaurants on Mother\u2019s Day, but filming can make getting around difficult.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have stop-and-go measures, but I also know that sometimes when they shoot a scene, they can be shooting that scene for quite a while,\u201d the physician said. \u201cThe only way to get around there is to really circle an entire block.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s a challenge when you\u2019re walking with \u201cyour elderly mother out on a rollator,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Dorina Yuen, a member of the Elizabeth Broome Block Association, which represents residents near the border of Chinatown and Little Italy, said she also learned about the shoot on Thursday, when it became a topic in her community group chat.<\/p>\n
Yuen questioned whether production had given enough notice to a broad enough range of community contacts.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe’re not just a tourist destination but densely populated residential areas,\u201d she said. \u201cFor Paramount to close off these major thoroughfares on a weekend is more than enough of an insult, but to do so on Mother’s Day \u2026 is really a point of disrespect.\u201d<\/p>\n
The wartime imagery was particularly troubling, she added, on a day when \u201cfamilies are trying to celebrate happy moments.\u201d<\/p>\n
Parking will be held on stretches of Bowery as well as Canal, Elizabeth, Hester, Chrystie, Grand, Broome and Delancey streets, according to the notices.<\/p>\n
The first scene is set for Bowery and Canal, with traffic diversions in place. Brooklyn-bound traffic on the Manhattan Bridge’s outer roadway will be diverted to the lower roadway between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. for a second scene.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mother’s Day in Manhattan’s Chinatown and the Lower East Side will be busier than usual this year. Paramount…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":224587,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[75,84,83,9,24,63],"class_list":["post-224586","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-manhattan","tag-manhattan","tag-manhattan-headlines","tag-manhattan-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224586","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=224586"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224586\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/224587"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=224586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=224586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=224586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}