Let me do some corrections…

“Last week, Tony Amen of Penn Hills and Jackson Nunn of Trafford, both frequent movie extras for Pittsburgh films, worked on a scene at Club Erotica in McKees Rocks.”

We did, indeed, shoot at a strip club in McKees Rocks.

“The prize for longest distance probably goes to Eddie Smith of Ireland, who read Smith’s message board, decided to “holiday” in Pittsburgh and volunteered as an extra. Dressed in a blue vest, he is portraying an employee of Janda’s HD Gallery, a television store where Miri works.”

Miri does not work in Janda’s HD Gallery.

“Smith, who also wrote the script, has chosen Monroeville, Minn., as the name of the fictitious town where the movie is set.”

The film is set in Monroeville, PENNSYLVANIA (aka, the actual Monroeville in the actual PA). We ditched the Minnesota setting months ago, when we decided to shoot in Pittsburgh instead. Hence, the film is set in (and around) the Pittsburgh area.

“The film takes place on Black Friday, the official launch of the Christmas shopping season, thus the decorations, says mall marketing director Mindy Suhoza.”

That scene in the mall is set on Black Friday - NOT the whole film.

And while it has nothing to do with the article, let me alert you to some shenanigans over at the IMDB. Mewes and Rogen both reported reading a “page” from the script on the IMDB message board for the flick that’s bogus. Essentially, the poster took the character names and wrote a page of dialogue. We’ve been so super tight with the security on the script (not for any particular reason; we’re just always pretty tight with script distribution) that I’d be shocked if any real pages ever got out.

Anyway, that’s all for now.

The coolest news here for us is that the film will actually take PLACE in Pennsylvania now, which we believe is a View Askew first and quite an honor for our state. In fact, this should make the film a distant cousin to the original “Dawn of the Dead”, which primarily filmed and was set in Monroeville, PA.

In addition, a local resident reports a new possible set spotted in the West End of the city — The entire area of the town has been decorated in a Christmas motif, with a snowy wintry look on the ground and surrounding cars. Pittsbugh’s west end was also utilized way back in the “Dogma” days for the famous diner scene. More news from the scene as we hear it!

Mr. Smith comes to Monroeville
Story By Zandy Dudiak, Staff Writer

Photos By Chris DiSabato of Gateway Associated Photographers


Snowmen and strings of bright, clear lights still dangle from the ceiling of Monroeville Mall five weeks after retailers deep-discounted winter coats and filled store racks with summer shorts.

Wearing his trademark full-length wool coat and long shorts, movie director Kevin Smith fits right in as he moves between a scene in the former Thomas Kincade storefront and the crew members standing just outside.

“I don’t know who they are,” says Joan Lunney, a volunteer at Monroeville Mall Ministry’s Talk Shop kiosk, as she watches the action.

While they may have some name recognition among mall rats and clerks — at least younger ones — Smith and the film’s stars, Seth Rogen of “Knocked Up” fame and Elizabeth Banks of “Scrubs,” still aren’t well known among the older crowd.

“They’re shooting a movie that’s coming out next Christmas,” Lunney says, unaware of the film’s somewhat-irreverent title, “Zack and Miri Make a Porno.”

The movie is not a porn film, but a yet-to-be-rated comedy about lifelong friends who make an adult film to solve their cash flow problems, only to find they have more feelings for each other than they previously thought.

The cast was filming at the mall last week.

While the details of the film are hush-hush, there will be some risque, though funny, moments. Smith’s films generally have an “R” rating.

Last week, Tony Amen of Penn Hills and Jackson Nunn of Trafford, both frequent movie extras for Pittsburgh films, worked on a scene at Club Erotica in McKees Rocks.

For Amen, who also appeared as an extra in Smith’s locally-filmed 1998 movie “Dogma,” it was deja vu of sorts. Amen worked alongside actor Woody Harrelson while shooting a scene for “Kingpin” back in 1996 when the strip club was called Mancini’s.

Crew member Jared Wellman, a Forest Hills native now living in Los Angeles, belongs to unions in both cities, enabling him to work as a lighting technician on films being shot either place. Though willing to talk about themselves and their local ties, Wellman and other crew members do not discuss details of movies in production with outsiders.

Cast member Craig Robinson, who plays warehouse worker Darryl Philbin in the television hit “The Office,” comes out from the storefront, takes a seat and gets a backrub in front of the Happy Feet kiosk. An autograph seeker approaches, camera in hand, and Robinson good-naturedly obliges.

But when Robinson is approached for this story, publicist Amy Cohn ends the interview before he has a chance to say more than a few words.

Just below them, toddlers and their parents play in Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, oblivious that “Porno” is being shot above them. But a play area sign, in the spirit of the late Fred Rogers, reminds everyone that “You are always welcome in this neighborhood.”

Some fans traveled a distance to see the stars.

Shaun Brake and Justin Griffin, both Smith fans from Akron, Ohio, are leaning against glass and rail on the top floor of the mall waiting to get a photo of Griffin with the director and other performers. Griffin, who has a collection of photos of himself with celebrities, snagged one with Bill Clinton two weeks ago.

Griffin explains his rules — not entering the work space and watching for the stars to cross into public areas before making his approach.

Others, like Chad Bracken of Punxsutawney, made the trip just for the chance to see the film being made.

The prize for longest distance probably goes to Eddie Smith of Ireland, who read Smith’s message board, decided to “holiday” in Pittsburgh and volunteered as an extra. Dressed in a blue vest, he is portraying an employee of Janda’s HD Gallery.

Smith, who also wrote the script, has chosen Monroeville as the name of the fictitious town where the movie is set.

The entourage has been spotted filming along Monroeville Boulevard at the Monroeville Municipal Center and at Twin Fountains Plaza, where the former Meadows ice cream parlor has been converted into a coffee shop for the film. The giveaway is the touch of Tinseltown outside — two large tinsel Christmas trees still standing in February.

The scene takes place on Black Friday, the official launch of the Christmas shopping season, thus the decorations, says mall marketing director Mindy Suhoza.

This is the first movie filmed at the mall since George Romero’s “Dawn of the Dead” 30 years ago. And that was filmed at night when the mall was closed.

Smith’s shooting schedule provides for some more public interaction.

Lunney, who hosted her own quilting show on the Monroeville cable access channel and runs cameras for the mall ministry’s cable show, leans over to a crew member assembling a large metal frame for a light diffuser, a task he may repeat many times before shooting wraps up about mid-March.

“I’ll pray for you if you want,” Lunney says.

“I need all the prayers I can get,” he replies with a smile.

This story’s been added to the archive over in our “Zack & Miri Make a Porno” press site as well — Expect that article list to get a LOT more extensive as the months roll on.

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE - Casey Affleck for “The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford” (brother of Ben Affleck, appeared in “Good Will Hunting”)
BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE - Amy Ryan for “Gone Baby Gone” (directed by Ben Affleck, of course)
3 Nominations for Matt Damon’s “Bourne Ultimatum”, for score, editing, and mixing.

Dogma: In Kevin Smith’s religious comedy, the Golgothan is the excrement monster that Jason Lee sends after Jay and Silent Bob. He’s made up of all the evil shit from all over the world, and even has his own action figure that farts when you squeeze it. Unlike the Charmin.

Reaper, E4, 9pm

Imagine a Simon Pegg/Nick Frost-style couple of buddies dropped into a comedy episode of Heroes, and you have Reaper. Tonight’s pilot, in which our champion Sam (Bret Harrison) finds out that his parents sold his soul to the Devil (Ray Wise), also benefits from the direction of the Clerks legend Kevin Smith – it’s great fun, but it’ll be interesting to see how it develops next week without Smith at the helm.

TV Scoop also gives the show a nice little review.

“Zack and Miri Make a Porno” (Fall): Written and directed by Kevin Smith. That’s enough for us.

We couldn’t have typed it better ourselves. Be sure to visit our production page for a complete list of the latest multimedia and press from the film. We’ve just added a few today. See ya next time!

• The town: A great deal of shooting has been taking place around the Monroeville, PA area. This is a fairly big town around 10/15 minutes outside of Pittsburgh, best known for housing the mall where “Dawn of the Dead” was filmed. In fact, a day of shooting was spent inside the mall last week, where shoppers actually witnessed Seth Rogen doing a walk and talk with costar Craig Robinson. But it doesn’t end there - While the original draft of the script named Minnesota as the location, is it remaining as such? A local closed high school has been renamed “Monroeville High School”, convincing us that the town in our film will indeed hold that title. This makes sense, given all the free signage that they can now shoot (city signs, street signs, etc). Plus, Monroeville, Minnesota has a nice ring to it.
• So far, the film has been very location-based. No work on any sound stages, so far (from what we know). This means that we’ll see a lot of familiar locations from the Pittsburgh area in this one. As a new article confirms (in our next story), film crews have been spotted in the nearby town of Hazelwood, PA this week.
• Extras news - We hear some extras have been called to the set for filming of a high school related scene for the greater portion of this week. No word on exact dates. No word on how many extras are being used for this scene — While we know a few details of the nature of the scene, we are keeping it under wraps for now for fear of potential plot spoilage.
• Other extras news - Our friend and Clerks II banner contest winner, Paul, heads to town next week to film his onscreen appearance. Fans will be jealous when they hear what and where it is. Needless to say, it pays to enter Kevin’s contests and perform well.

That about sums it up, at least for the moment. Check out the most recent SModcast for a nice segment where Kevin and Jay discuss the first 3 days on set. We imagine that SModcast’s weekly episodes from Pittsburgh will continue to offer great film tidbits, which we’ll summarize as best we can. We’ll also be archiving all the best bits for the Zack & Miri production site. Stay tuned, the excitement’s just getting underway.

Kevin Smith brings Hollywood to Hazelwood

By Adam Brandolph
TRIBUNE-REVIEW

Across the street from the fictitious Monroeville High School, in real-life Hazelwood, a crane sits on the side yard of a two-story house.

The crane, used to hold movie cameras in high places, is one of the remnants of the first Pittsburgh location shoot for “Zack and Miri Make a Porno.”

Maverick director Kevin Smith will be shooting the film, about two friends who try to solve their cash-flow problems by making an X-rated movie, in the city over the next 40 or so days.

The crew took over about three blocks of the neighborhood last Friday and through the weekend. Shooting was halted early yesterday because of the frigid temperatures.

Smith’s publicist wouldn’t explain Hazlewood’s appeal as a stage set. “Just a location thing,” said Kevin Smith’s publicist, Amy, who didn’t give her last name.

Smith shot his 1995 flick “Dogma” in various city locations, including the abandoned St. Peter and Paul Roman Catholic Church in East Liberty.

Mishell Williams, 33, lives down the street from the filming location on Hazelwood Avenue. She said she wasn’t sure why anyone would want to film a movie there.

“The people of Hazelwood are some of the nicest in the world,” she said, “but the neighborhood is ugly. The houses are old and falling apart or boarded up.”

Outside the “Monroeville High School” — actually the closed Gladstone Middle School on Hazelwood Avenue — boarded-up houses lie vacant and business is scarce.

Reports out of Tinseltown say the film’s budget is in the $15 million and $25 million range. How much of that will be spent in Pittsburgh is not known.

“Filming in Southwestern Pennsylvania helps our entire region,” said Dawn Keezer, director of the Pittsburgh Film Office. “It’s always good when new money is being brought into the economy.”

Film crews spent $20 million in the city last year, and $300 million since 1990, Keezer said.

Sophia Stewart, mother of the owner of RS Market on Second Avenue in Hazelwood, said the film was shooting all night long on Friday. Production and security crews from the movie came in to buy coffee at her son’s store, she said.

“I had to make a cup of coffee at midnight. I didn’t think they were going to leave, because it was so late,” Stewart said.

There were other reports that some locals were paid for the use of their property, although that couldn’t be confirmed by Smith’s publicist.

As a director, this will be Smith’s eighth movie.

This story, along with others, will also be archived for easy access at our new Zack & Miri Make a Porno Press Page.

This time ’round, we’re doing something a bit different. As this is our first production site under our new database system, we’re using that very database to drive BOTH sites. So, while you’ll still see all the latest news on the front page and in our RSS feed, folks looking to track ONLY the latest news on “Zack and Miri Make A Porno” will get it all at the production site. You won’t, however, need to check BOTH sites to get the latest news. That would just be making things tough on you.

As before, we will offer a few exclusive features only available at the production site. We’ve already got an up to date cast list, which will change as each confirmed member is announced. We’ll also be collecting a nice set of links and scans taking you to all the press on the film, from production through release and beyond. Finally, as muiltimedia offerings start to appear (photos, videos, ads, tv appearances, etc), those will also be archived in one simple place.

While we’re just getting underway, take a moment to pop over to our “Zack & Miri Make a Porno” production site - As always, we promise the most complete, one stop location for all the news on the new movie. Miss a previous production site? Our Dogma, J&SBSB, Jersey Girl, and Clerks II sites are still around for historical purposes.

SModcast 44: Thuffering Thucotash -

In which one of our heroes is accompanied by a special guest making his triumphant return with tales of orthodontia, long distance love, the bare necessities, cultural understanding, and talk of “Zack and Miri”. Plus, a quiz!

Three days were shot last week (Wednesday thru Friday) and they’re back to work today. So far, Mewes has appeared in just one shot. An early shot of the film took place at the historic Monroeville Mall, a spot we have visited many times. This is the mall where the original “Dawn of the Dead” was filmed. We hear they drew quite a crowd inside the mall. Anyone catch it?

Day two featured Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks in a car, and actually had them fighting snowfall - Welcome to Pittsburgh, PA. And yes, as always, Kevin is already having some footage cut together to look at (though with the shoot NOT being in Los Angeles this time, it’ll be a bit tougher).

It’s looking like SModcast will be your best way to hear the latest stories from the set as shooting continues on. If you’re a fan of the “Zack & Miri” production, this will be the way to keep up. For example, we heard there are actually GUNS used as props in the film. Guns, you say? Interesting, no? Once the new episode has run its course over at QSE, we’ll also archive the interesting bits at our new production site.

You can get the ‘SMod at one place, and one place only — That’s Quick Stop Entertainment, View Askew’s exclusive portal to everything that’s entertainment on the web. The MP3 file is totally free for your downloading and listening pleasure. Haven’t picked up an episode yet? Check out our next story and see why you SHOULD be listening…