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But shoot a major Bollywood movie here, and watch the fans and photogs ignore it. That's what has been happening for the last month, with a star-filled Indian action flick filming here and pretty much working under the radar - even one day last month when producers changed signs on the PNC Bank Center on Market Street to read "Federal Bureau of Investigation" and flatbeds out front unloaded "NYPD" cars.
Wary of tipping off the voracious Indian media, filmmakers have politely brushed off questions.
The film is backed by Mumbai's Yash Raj Films, which hit the trades for its deal with Disney on an animated film called Roadside Romeo.
With a working title of New York, the Kabir Khan-directed film stars John Abraham, Katrina Kaif, and newcomer Neil Nitin Mukesh.
Cash and crew will travel to New York next week to shoot exteriors for two weeks. Then it's back to Philly through November.
The company was spotted Thursday shooting a bar scene on Second Street in Northern Liberties. The production has created a bonanza for the Indian restaurant Tiffin, which got the catering concession.
Film business in town is brisk despite the threat of a Screen Actors Guild strike, says Film Office head Sharon Pinkenson. "We've been zeroing in on independent films that can start productions."
Speaking of which: Josh Hopkins (Pirates of Silicon Valley, Swingtown), Samantha Mathis (Lost), Mary Beth Hurt (The World According to Garp, The Age of Innocence), and Temple student Rachel Kitson are under the lights as writer-director Ben Hickernell shoots Lebanon here and in Lebanon, Pa. Hickernell, a Haverford College alum whose movie Cellar world-premiered at the Philadelphia Film Festival and won its Technical Achievement Award, is about an urbane guy from Philadelphia whose father dies, sending him back to his rural hometown, where drama ensues.
Green-lit for October is The Storyteller, a drama starring Wes Bentley (American Beauty), Anita Briem (Journey to the Center of the Earth), and American Idol star Katharine McPhee. Writer-director Robert Masciantonio (Cold Hearts) went to Episcopal Academy and Temple. Producers include Jason Loftus of Heery Casting, Feverpitch's Jeffrey D. Erb and Joe Nicolo, and Pat McDade. Locations have not been set.
Also up for an October start is the thriller Law Abiding Citizen from director Frank Darabont (The Green Mile, Shawshank Redemption). One actor cast so far: Gerard Butler (P.S. I Love You). Rumors have Catherine Zeta-Jones on board, too. Locations will include City Hall and Holmesburg Prison.
Action News noon anchor Sarah Bloomquist is adding some morning reporting to her repertoire, inspiring a panic that she is becoming a morning anchor. Not the case, I hear.
MYPHL17 tomorrow picks up Better Philly, a syndicated weekday lifestyle show (8 a.m.). Adding local fodder will be Renai Ellison, Megan Gunning and Joe Ceccola.
Hulk spawn Brooke Hogan, in Philly to cut a record, overnighted last week at the new Aloft Philadelphia near the airport. On Friday, the hotel will host a welcome-home event for Olympic gold-medal swimmer Brendan Hansen of Havertown; it'll be a fund-raiser for the Cancer Center at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
Former 76ers general manager Billy King guest-bartended at Downey's at Front and South Streets on Thursday. His chosen charity, Alex's Lemonade Stand, got $1,400 in tips. Among those who showed up: Matt Cord, Joe Conklin and Alycia Lane.
As for Knuble, he joined his mother, Mara, and brother Steve last month on an emotional four-day trip to her homeland, Latvia. It was her first return since she was 4 when she, her mother and her grandmother fled with the Soviet occupation at the end of World War II. Memories of constant bombing had left her with claustrophobia and a fear of flying. Knuble says: "She is getting older, and we figured it's now or it's never. We kind of made her go."
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