January 30, 2006
Ask Bostonist: Celebs in Town?
Do you know what movie is being flimed on Charles Street (the Cambridge end)?
The last block is filled with trailers and temporary tents. I saw some names on a trailer door - Lucy and Desi - which
led me to believe it's an "I Love Lucy" remake. But a quick search on IMDB revealed no movie of the same title.
So have you heard what it is? Or, more importantly, do you know what celebrities I should be on the lookout for?
Thanks,
Julie H.
From what we read in the Globe, Bostonist believes the movie shooting on Charles Street is "Stiffs," which, according to IMDb, is a comedy about "a hearse driver [who] bonds with a pack of Bostonians in an effort to keep a local funeral home in business." (We also noticed some signs near the base of the Longfellow Bridge this morning as we rode our bicycle to work that said "STIFFS" on them, which didn't make any sense at the time.) Danny Aiello, who seems not to have done much of note since "Do The Right Thing" back in '89, stars alongside Jon Polito, the ubiquitous, put-upon short bald guy whose name you don't know (that's his smiling mug above).
Written by locals Frank and Joseph Ciota, funded by local-boy-makes-good EMC founder (and Worcester Ice Cats owner) Roger Marino, set in the Hub, and made possible by newly enacted tax breaks meant to lure movie-making to the Commonwealth, "Stiffs" promises to be about as Mass-centric as Bostonist could hope for. With any luck, Aiello (of Brooklyn) and Polito (of Philly) won't butcher the local vernacular as badly as some of the big-time stars in Mystic River.



The two names seen on the trailer "Desi" & "Luci" were the portable bathrooms we used just outside the restaurant that we were filming the movie "Stiffs" in.
Yes, Danny Aiello was terrific as was the entire "Stiffs" crew! A quick hello and a big thank you to Boston Casting's Kevin Fennessy, Angela Peri and Jodi Purdy!