Tag Archives: Art and Film

Gone Baby Gone

In my post, Celebrities, I mentioned how there has been a rash of movies being filmed in my hometown lately. A score of hollywood A-listers can be watched filming in some of Boston’s swankier neighborhoods (BackBay, SouthEnd, Beacon Hill, etc…), but I neglected to mention what I hope will be a wonderful film that is already generating buzz called, Gone Baby Gone.

This week, Ben Affleck’s new film, Gone Baby Gone, opened in Boston. Ben who has been out of the spotlight for a while is back in a new role as director. This being his directorial debut, I’m more than a little curious to see it. The story is based on the novel of the same name by local author Dennis Lehane. This is the same best selling author who wrote Mystic River — notice a trend?

While I have yet to see the film, initial reviews for Ben, his brother Casey who stars in the film and the rest of the cast seem to be mostly positive. This film, like last year’s detective flick, The Departed, was filmed in some of this city’s grittier neighborhoods Southie and Dorchester. If you happen to see the film, please shoot me an e-mail and let me know your thoughts.

About Gone Baby Gone (As provided by Dennis Lehane’s website):
The tough neighborhood of Dorchester, MA is no place for the innocent or the weak. A territory defined by hard heads and even harder luck, its streets are littered with the detritus of broken families, hearts, dreams. Now, one of its youngest is missing. Private investigators Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro don’t want the case. But after pleas from the child’s aunt, they open an investigation that will ultimately risk everything—their relationship, their sanity, and even their lives—to find a little girl-lost.

Celebrities

Celebrities in Boston

In my humble opinion, Boston is more of a large town rather than a big city. However, because it played such a prominent role in American history, politics and culture (especially in the 20th century), the city’s image to those who have never visited is larger than life. Needless to say, Boston does not appear on many celebs radar screens unless they are born here and have family still in the area (e.g. Jay Leno, Matt Damon, Ben and Casey Affleck, Bridgette Moynihan, etc…) As a matter of fact in all my time living in Boston I’ve seen far more musicians than actors.

However, lately Boston has had more than its share of celebrity sightings. Indeed, by L.A. or NYC standards, our sightings would be considered ‘cute’ or ‘quaint’, but as compared to the recent past, there seeems to be a rash of A-list celebrities walking about town and filming here.

In the last month Kate Hudson, Alec Baldwin, Jason Biggs, and Dane Cook were in town filming scenes from their upcoming film, “Bachelor 2”.

Jada Pinkett-Smith, Annette Bening, Debra Messing Candice Bergen and Meg Ryan have all been spotted ordering their double chai lattes at local Starbucks and popping into one of the many boutiques that line Newbury Street (Boston’s version of Rodeo Ave) while filming “The Women”.

And two personal favorites, Steve Martin and Andy Garcia have been all over the BackBay filming “Pink Panther 2”.

The reason for the increased filming is two-fold, a recent tax credit given to film makers that makes it quite affordable as compared to other locations and the weak American Dollar which makes filming in Europe and other parts of the world even more cost-prohibitive. Hence filming movies like Pink Panther 2 – which is suppose to take place in Paris.

The local paper, The Boston Globe, provides a nice collection of photos from many of the celebrities listed above. To view these you can link to Celebrities in Boston.