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Home , A Dirty Shame, Ken Kwapis, Liberty Heights, Maryland Film Festival, Selma Blair, Tin Men

Tune in to Charm From retro bags City’s music scene to futuristic bling F74A4C>58=323B0=32>=24ACBk4% ;>20;34B86=4AB6>78?0=32A05CHk4$

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MARGE ELY/EXPRESS

A403H5>A8CB2;>B4D?) The 70-year-old Senator Theater had cameos in films including “12 Monkeys” and “Cecile B. DeMented.” It just stopped screening flicks due to money woes; fans hope it’ll reopen soon.

8=C74A><2><hit “He’s Just Not That Into You,” Ben Affleck, , and other Hollywood stars meet in cute cafes, slurp cocktails at charm- ing waterfront bars and play com- puter games in loft apartments with The Reel World dreamy skyline views. Filmmakers zoom in on Charm City’s landmarks and quirky neighborhoods 2>=C8=D43>=4!

JOHN [WATERS] WRITES FOR PLACES. EACH OF HIS FILMS IS AN HOMAGE TO A NEIGHBORHOOD. HE CASTS HOUSES LIKE .” 4g_[^aT1P[cX\^aT P /A S LLEN WI Y TH KA

urban districts and beautiful monu- 030H½B@D8A:)’s “Pope of Flicked Out ments,” says Jed Dietz, director of Trash” , above, captures 2>=C8=D435A><4 the Maryland Film Festival. “You his hometown with a loving, sarcastic Is it another flick filmed in New hear from film crews that it’s rare eye. In “Pecker” (2000), his hero works York or San Francisco? Nope. The to see a city with such a variety of at a Hampden sub shop now known backdrop for director Ken Kwapis’ looks. If you can shoot 10 setups in as Philly’s Best (1101 W. 36th St.) and ensemble piece turns out to be a 30-block area, that’s huge.” owned by Indian immigrants (right). Baltimore, including the parks of Waters, who still lives here part Fells Point and the streetscapes of time and most recently shot 2004’s ry Paris in ‘Washington Square.’” 19th-century ’hood Mount Vernon. “Dirty Shame” on Harford Road, In that 1997 film, unlucky-in- Thanks to a weeklong shoot, signs of love Henry James heroine Catherine the town show up in many scenes, Sloper (Jennifer Jason Leigh) visits like when Goodwin’s lonely single- ¼?TRZTa½ a music store in Paris, actually the ton meets a pal at Fells Point pub \PST George Peabody Library (17 E. Mt the Waterfront Hotel (1710 Thames 7P\_ST] Vernon Place). For much of the rest St.) or a down-on-his-romantic-luck of the movie, she is courted by Ben boat driver moans about women [^^ZQTccTacWP]Xc Chaplin at Union Square (Hollins from the nearby Ann Street Pier. SXSX]aTP[[XUT» and South Stricker streets), where

Kwapis, who shot the Kevin 9>7=F0C4AB58;<<0:4A 19th-century townhouses and Bacon-Elizabeth Perkins romance a park substitute for New York’s “He Said, She Said” here in 1991, Washington Square. knew what many other auteurs do: thinks films benefit from the city’s Still, it may be D.C. that film- Charm City’s varied landscape, old “easy mix of old and new,” he says. makers use Baltimore for most architecture and modest size make “It’s a place of hipster hillbillies.” often. “It’s a little different here, it an ideal spot to film a flick. This In 2005’s (seemingly) globe-trot- because we don’t have the govern- combo appeals to both directors ting thriller “Syriana,” Baltimore ment buildings. That often makes looking to capture Baltimore itself played Dallas, Virginia, D.C., St. getting the permits easier,” says pro- (native sons John Waters and Barry Louis and Geneva. “The city can duction designer ,

Levinson) and those seeking a place look very European or English,” who has worked on all of Waters’ RESS P to fill in for other locales. says Debbie Dorsey, director of Baltimore movies since 1970’s “Baltimore has nitty-gritty urban the Baltimore Film Office. “Mount “,” Levinson’s

blocks, narrow older streets, modern Vernon even stood in for 19th-centu- “,” and the TV shows ELY/EX MARGE 4g_[^aT1P[cX\^aT RESS P /EX LY ARGE E ARGE M

50;;8=;>E454;;B?>8=CBCH;4) In director Ken Kwapis’ romantic comedy “He’s Just Not That Into You,” Hollywood actors including and , right, meet and date in locations in and around Baltimore such as historic Fells Point, above, and Little Italy.

“Homicide: Life on the Streets” and “.” Peranio often sends crews to tony, rowhouse-rich Bolton Hill, which masqueraded as Kennedy- era Georgetown in the just-re- leased Gretchen Mol indie, “An American Affair.” Nicole Kidman also leapt from a Baltimore Light BROS. ER ER

Rail meant to be a D.C. Metro train N in 2007’s “Invasion.” S/WAR fought Washington power brokers L AE

in “Enemy of the State,” but it was ICH M shot mostly in Baltimore. N

Still, to really see the city on film DARRE — or trace the steps of actors from to Adrien Brody — rent a few thinks “Pecker,” his 2000 farce mother ran a secondhand cloth- Waters or Levinson flicks, which about a Hampden kid turned art ing boutique where coats went for showcase Baltimore in its own right. world photographer, perhaps best as little as a quarter; it was actually Both directors were born and bred catches its surroundings. “‘Pecker’ David’s Thrift Store (914 W. 36th here, so their movies capture the probably made Hampden look bet- St.; 410-467-8159), where the 20th- city’s personality in ways outsid- ter than it did in real life,” he laughs. century stock seems just as sarto- ers never could. “I had a guy in the neighborhood rially interesting, even if the prices “John writes for places,” says ask me to sign his house after it aren’t quite that cheap. Peranio of Waters. “Each film is an came out. You won’t see that hap- “I shoot in places that inspire me, homage to a Baltimore neighbor- pen if you have a fake house some- even if they’re down on their luck,” hood. He’ll pick his area, then drive where else.” Waters says. That means he’s used around looking for where his char- Today, the sub shop (1101 W. 36th spots such as the Holiday House acters would live. He casts houses St.) where Pecker served roach- (6427 Harford Road), a biker bar like he casts actors.” infested french fries still operates, where, in “,” Ursula All of Waters’ movies use the but its Indian owners are dishing Udders () works as a top- city’s urban blocks and retail thor- up sandwiches and a pretty good less dancer, and the neon-decked, oughfares, but Waters himself chicken tikka masala. Pecker’s 2>=C8=D43>=4# 4g_[^aT1P[cX\^aT SS E PR Y/EX L E E E MARG

2DA1B4AE824) The Hollywood Diner Flicked Out (Saratoga and Gay streets) starred in 2>=C8=D435A><4" Barry Levinson’s “Diner,” where Kevin 70-year-old Art Deco Senator movie Bacon and Mickey Rourke, right, play theater (5904 York Road). 1950s hipsters who hang out there. The latter (which also figures prominently in Terry Gilliam’s in perhaps the most flattering (and Philly- and Baltimore-filmed sci-fi decidedly retro) light. “His vision is masterwork “12 Monkeys”) recent- gentle, nostalgic and draws so much ly shuttered due to financial prob- on his childhood,” says Dorsey. His lems, but cineastes in town think four Baltimore films — “Diner” it’ll reopen soon. In Waters’ “Cecile (1982), “” (1987), “Avalon” B. DeMented” (2000), it served as a (1990) and “Liberty Heights” (1999) war zone of sorts, as guerrilla film- — capture a place more wistful and

makers took aging actress Honey elegiac than Waters’ somewhat rough MGM Whitlock (Melanie Griffith) hostage landscape. in the name of “underground cin- “Diner” depicts 20-something ema.” The sidewalk outside bears male (played by then up- 8bW^^cX] concrete tiles painted in honor of and-comers including _[PRTb premieres that’ve screened here and Mickey Rourke) as they gab cWPcX]b_XaT\T from “Sleepless in ” (filmed about girls, their futures and Frank mainly in Fells Point) to “Diner.” Sinatra at the Hollywood Diner, TeT]XUcWTh½aTS^f] It is Levinson who views the city at the time in Fells Point but now ^]cWTXa[dRZ» relocated to a corner downtown 9>7=F0C4AB58;<<0:4A 1>>:8C) The George Peabody Library, (Saratoga and Gay streets). left, served as a law school study zone The 1954 chrome gem isn’t sling- for Adrian Brody (below, right, with ing malts these days, but nearby, cir- “Avalon,” Levinson’s tribute to the Ben Foster, who plays his brother) in ca-1950 Werner’s (231 E. Redwood immigrant experience, that Mount ’s “Liberty Heights.” St.; 410-752-3335), which served as Vernon becomes the ultimate a set in “Liberty Heights” and “Tin soundstage. The scene depicts a Men,” still doles out club sandwich- young man in the early 20th centu- es and meatloaf in a zone of but- ry, just off the boat from Russia, as terscotch wood-paneled walls and he strolls through Mount Vernon. It Formica booths. “I do love a good is the Fourth of July, and revelers in time warp,” says Peranio. boater hats and Gibson girl dresses Like many moviemakers seduced pass him as fireworks erupt above by Charm City, Levinson focuses Baltimore’s gleaming Washington on Mount Vernon, too, sending Monument. He is transfixed, and, “Liberty Heights” law student Van in a voice-over says, “When I came Kurtzman (Adrian Brody) to study to Baltimore, it was the most beau- in the George Peabody Library and, tiful place I ever saw.” SS E in “Diner,” having Boogie Sheftell Taking in Levinson’s ideal- PR LL I

Y/EX (Mickey Rourke) get beat up by a ized cinematic vision, most movie L HAM E E E

N loan shark on Charles Street. fans would agree. 94==854A10A64A IA MARG BR But it is in the opening of 4G?A4BB