One of my favorite things about living and commuting in New York is the importance placed on keeping the entertainment commissions rolling. At any given time, you could run into a famous face in the most familiar place. Having the city stand tall as an prominent (but unscripted) character to the bulk of what dominates the big and small screens lends an immediate authenticity you can't recreate on some artificial backlot in Lalaland or staying within a budget in Canada. And while tasty tidbits courtesy of Page Six, Rush & Malloy and Gatecrasher are the perfect side dish to my A.M. Sausage McMuffin, usually the scenery picks stay confined to the famous trademarks (i.e. Rockefeller Center, Times Square, Central Park) or the trendier areas in the Village, Chelsea or SoHo. Rarely, and I do mean rarely do the cameras roll where the everyday Joes and plain Janes of the world roam. But today I'd be in for a pleasant surprise.

Power walking down John Street this morning, those little yellow "no parking" notices were dotted all over and I paid it no mind. Not until I was debating Japanese vs. Thai for lunch did someone fill me in that a camera crew was filming nearby. I shrugged it off thinking it wouldn't be anything I'd be interested in and kept sifting through menus. Until my boss slinked over to namedrop that he'd just seen Chris Noth while leaving Duane Reade and forwarded me his grainy phone cap as shown above for proof. Of course that's all I needed to hear. While Noth does very little for me in his ongoing reprisal of Det. Mike Logan, (this time in alternating episodes on Law & Order: Criminal Intent) there's always a soft spot in my heart for the actor formerly known as Mr. Big.

Right on the corner of John & Cliff, the shoot was already set up and a huge crowd of rubbernecking passers-by (myself included), couldn't help but angle for the best shots, cell phones contorted above heads. Dodging cables, dollies and Teamsters, my mood was shifting from from "Get the hell out of my way" to "Oooh girl, is that him?" You'd think after meeting an actor already before wouldn't be a big deal the second time around. So much for playing the part of the jaded New Yorker. I'm just thankful this was a filming for a Logan/Wheeler episode and not one featuring Goren/Eames because as I detailed painstakingly earlier this week, one glimpse of Vincent D'Onofrio would send me ape shit and I would probably be physically escorted off the sidewalk. But I digress... check out a few snaps I took with my Razr that are of marginally better quality.

Cast chairs for Noth and co-star Julianne Nicholson.
The crew hard at work.

Labels: Chris Noth, Law And Order: Criminal Intent, Lower Manhattan, shoot, TV