Lynn takes another star turn

LYNN – “Joy,” a blockbuster film with Robert DeNiro and Bradley Cooper in the cast, dropped with a solid thunk on Boston Street Tuesday with filmmakers converting the former Johnnie’s Foodmaster store into Kmart.Police officers and film crew workers kept the Johnnie’s parking lot off limits all the way up to McDonald’s and filled the lot with movie making equipment and more than 200 crew and cast members.”Joy” is the story of inventor entrepreneur Joy Mangano, starring Jennifer Lawrence, and the four generations of family history that led to her founding billion dollar corporation Ingenious Designs.Production location scout Jason McCauley said the “Joy” crew is shooting in the Greater Boston area until May. He said Lynn is an attractive location for shooting 1980s-era scenes with Johnnie’s exterior easily converting into a 30-year-old Kmart.”Lynn, like other smaller cities outside Boston, has a classic look with older structures that is hard to get. It is appealing and pretty rare,” McCauley said.The film is one of two productions underway in Lynn with crew representing “Broad Squad,” an ABC Studios and Kapital Entertainment production, scouting local sites to tell the fictionalized story of the first four female officers to join the Boston Police Department in 1978.”Joy” – which is also being filmed under the working title “Kay’s Baptism” – drew its share of onlookers to Boston Street, even though Lynn has become a minor film capital with gangster movie, “Black Mass,” taking over sections of the city last summer.”A lot of different movies are made in Lynn. I think it’s great,” said Dolores Boyd.Boyd and fellow Lynn resident Carla Boynton ate lunch and watched crew members use a lift to raise a screen roughly the size of a small backyard into position above the parking lot. The crew had already placed a Kmart sign atop Johnnie’s.McCauley said “Joy” is scheduled to enter movie theaters by Christmas. Other cast members include Virginia Madsen and Isabella Rossellini. Lynn resident Margarita Rijo called the production “good for the city” and said the cast and crew will spend money locally.Rijo and her friend, Dina Mejia, wouldn’t mind taking their own shot at getting in front of the camera.”We would be robbers,” joked Mejia.