Backdrop for a Blockbuster

JC on the Silver Screen

By Marilyn Baer

Most people know Jersey City is one of the most diverse cities in the country.

It’s a melting pot of cultures and artistic expression making it a perfect backdrop to set the scene of more than one award winning motion picture or Emmy worthy series.

Just last year residents were abuzz when Queen Latifah could be spotted fi lming scenes of the action-packed series The Equalizer which tells the story of ex-CIA operative Robyn McCall, a woman who helps desperate people in need of justice.

Queen Latifah was born in Newark, grew up in East Orange, and went to school in Irvington. As an adult, she lived for a time in Jersey City’s Dixon Mills and had an offi ce in a renovated fi rehouse on Morgan Street.

Eagle eyed Jersey City residents spotted local destinations in the very fi rst Equalizer episode, which aired after the Super Bowl on CBS.

Queen Latifah and her onscreen daughter Delilah, played by Laya DeLeon Hayes, walk down the 500 block of Jersey Avenue.

The duo stops near the parklet of Kitchen Step to window shop for a dress at a nearby boutique.

Their home, which they share with her aunt Viola ‘Vi’Marsette, played by Lorraine Toussaint, sits on Giff ord Avenue.

On Location in JC

Comic book villains have also come to town.

The award-winning fi lm Joker starring Joaquin Phoenix in the title role turned Jersey City into Gotham when the William J Brennan Courthouse on Newark Avenue was transformed into Wayne Hall.

In 2018, extras from the area donned clown masks and face paint while holding signs at a faux rally by the courthouse steps lined with prop police cars and barricades.

Photo by Max Ryazansky

Photo by Max Ryazansky

Photo by Victor M. Rodgriguez

Photo by Max Ryazansky

Photo by Victor M. Rodgriguez

While brilliant mathematician John Nash never called Jersey City home, the Oscarwinning 2001 film A Beautiful Mind was partially filmed in Paulus Hook.

In the biographical drama directed by Ron Howard, Russell Crowe and Jennifer Connolly were filmed in the interior of a three-story brick building near Paulus Hook Park on Grand Street which served as the backdrop of the Nash’s home.

Urban and Open

While Jersey City is often used as an alternative to filming in New York City or another big city, its green spaces are popular locales, particularly Liberty State Park along the waterfront.

Before Liberty State Park became a public park in1972 all-time classic The Godfather directed by Francis Ford Coppola was filmed in the then-abandoned marshland.

Framed by tall grass and Lady Liberty in the distance, characters Peter Clemenza, Rocco Lampone, and Paulie Gatto stop briefly while running errands. Lampone takes the opportunity to gun down Gatto for betraying the mafia.

It’s then that the famous line “Leave the gun, take the cannoli” is uttered by Clemenza as Gatto lies slumped against the steering wheel.

Action!

If you’re unfamiliar with the three-hour mafia movie (where have you been?) then perhaps you would have recognized the park from the hilarious sci-fi action flick Men in Black.

In the 1997 film, Agents K and J, played by Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith, stop a couple driving through the park on Morris Pesin Drive. While pulled over, Agent J helps a pregnant alien give birth, tangled in tentacles.

The Netflix series Seven Seconds is set in Jersey City, starting off with a death in Liberty State Park. The promotional poster for the series shows a woman in the park with the Statue of Liberty in the background.

Photos by Maxim Ryazansky

These are just a few of the famous scenes filmed on location here in Jersey City. The list goes on with more movies and shows than could fit in the pages of this magazine.

More are yet to come with the announcement of two new film studios: Caven Point Studios, which will be built near Pacific Avenue in the Canal Crossing area of Jersey City, and Industry Go on Burma Road. Both are slated to have three sound stages for filming large productions.—JCM

The Kitchen Step. Photo by Max Ryazansky

Grand Street.