New York, October 18-24, 2006 – The Reeler took a realistic look at the news that film production is way up in New York City, with all those movie folks needing coffee, aspirin and tequila, thereby creating loads of “peripheral” jobs. We’re really not qualified to assess the economic impact of all this, but we came across some A-List actors on movie sets around the city just in the last few days.

Police stopped traffic on Fifth Avenue when Will Smith picked up a rifle in front of St. Patrick’s’ Cathedral and herded the tourists across the street. Smith hadn’t gone crazy; he was defending himself as the last man alive in the Sci-Fi flick I Am Legend. In fact, between takes, the bubbly actor pumped the PR machine by smiling and waving to tourists across the street.

Hilary Swank was not so thrilled with the attention she drew while shooting P.S. I Love You on the Lower East Side last week. The two-time Oscar winner ignored passersby and journalists gawking on the sidelines. All activity stopped for a while when a Chinese funeral procession consisting of about 20 black limousines drew up to a neighboring building, with incense burning and a brass band playing in the middle of the street. Swank watched in silence.

We ran into Catherine Zeta-Jones in the West Village, reshooting scenes from No Reservations, in which she plays a chef – one of those peripheral jobs.