Movie sets, TV shows, and movie stars...Oh my!!

I have been to NYC 5 times and never saw movie sets or movie stars until this visit! Our first sighting was only a few hours after arriving. We were walking down Broadway and passed Tracy Morgan (SNL and 30 Rock) on the sidewalk. He posed for a photo with two of the girls before moving on. The kids (and adults) were so excited to see their first movie star!



Wow....he looked right at my camera just when I snapped the photo. Thanks Tracy!




The next day, while walking through Greenwich Village, we saw a movie being filmed. We didn't get a chance to see any stars, but we did talk to one of the equipment guys for a while. Apparently they were filming a low budget film called "Howl" starring James Franco (Pineapple Express, Nights in Rodanthe).



The movie set....they were actually filming inside the building on the left edge of the photo.



Later that day, Chris, one of his students, and I were walking down 60th Street and saw another movie star - Jay Mohr (Jerry Maguire, Gary Unmarried). He was nice enough to pose for a photo with me and let me pet his cute little dog.




Right down the street we came upon another movie set. After doing some snooping (looking at the back of the director's chairs) and asking some questions, we found out they were filming an episode of Gossip Girl. I will admit that I watch the show every week (Cheryl got me hooked), so I was pretty excited that they were filming. Unfortunately, they were filming inside a restaurant and never came out. Leighton Meester (Blair) and Taylor Momsen (Jenny) were filming a scene with some of the other girls. I even saw Blair pass her famous headband to Jenny. I did get a couple glimpses of them inside the restaurant and managed to try to take a few photos. (I was really wishing I had my big lens to get up close and personal!) If you watch the episode in about 4 weeks, you may just see the top of my head outside the restaurant on the sidewalk. :)



I pointed out Blair and Jenny with the arrow. If you look real close you can see them.

We also saw a movie set on Friday while we were in Greenwich Village. They were filming right near Washington Square. One of the workers told us they were filming the live action version of the Sorcerer's Apprentice (from the Disney Fantasia movie). He wouldn't say who was in the movie, but did tell us one of the actors was from "Knocked Up" (Jay Baruchel). After I got home and did some internet searching, I discovered that Nicholas Cage is producing and starring in the movie. No wonder they wouldn't tell us who was inside!!

This dog was on the set with someone wearing an ID badge for the movie. The man was really protective of the dog and the dog was really well behaved. He sat down right next to me, so I reached down to pet him. I'm pretty sure the dog is a part of the movie. If so, I can say that I pet a movie dog!