11 Mar 2013

Lost Capitol Hill: Hollywood on the Hill, Eastern Market Edition

tnIn Mike Canning’s book Hollywood on the Potomac the author not only looks at the classics of DC movies, but also mentions – in the back – a few that didn’t make the cut, for one reason or another. I will look at one of these today, for reasons that I trust will be obvious.

David Ignatius has been a writer and editor for the Washington Post for years, before that he worked at the Wall Street Journal. Since 1987, he has also published a series of novels, including Agents of Innocence, Siro, The Bank of Fear, A Firing Offense and Body of Lies. The last, published in 2007 which was turned into a movie by Ridley Scott. The movie starred Leonardo DiCaprio as a CIA agent, and Russell Crowe as his boss. In it, Roger Ferris (DiCaprio) is hunting a terrorist responsible for a number of bombs that have gone off in Europe, but using techniques that worry Ed Hoffman (Crowe.)

The movie takes place all over the world, but filming was done only in a small number of places, which meant that certain venues had to stand in for other places. In one scene, a bomb was to go off in a Dutch flower market, and so Scott and his crew, who weren’t about to fly to Holland for a single shot, decided to find a more easily accessible location.

Their choice was Eastern Market, and so for a few days in September 2007, 7th Street SE was turned into a Dutch Straat. Signs in Dutch were hung up, even an awning was added to one of the buildings. And under the green awning, flowers were added in huge numbers.

Gene Weingarten of the Washington Post wrote of the extras who were brought out on the big day, which was supposed to take place in winter, while it was actually a warm September day. Wrapped in winter coats, the walked back and forth as directed, waiting for the big blast.

Scott had made the decision to make the explosion a real one, although consisting of more flash than bang. It was thus quite a spectacle for the neighbors.

blown up em

After the explosion. The various crewmembers did hand out flowers, but were unwilling to give away any of the other props, burned as they might be (RSP)

After the ‘explosion’ the street was reopened, which is when I went by to have a look. And, of course I had to see the movie when it came out. Sadly, the explosion is seen only through a video camera, so there’s no bright colors to see. But it is fun to see that the magic of CGI has turned North Carolina Avenue into a canal.

The movie opened in October 2008, and was was reasonably well received, with a slim majority of critics giving it a good review. Nonetheless, it probably did not entirely take back its 70 million dollar budget. But still, for a chance to see Eastern Market getting blown up, it’s definitely worth it to a Hill resident.

See the Eastern Market blown up at 0:56 of this video.


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