LYNN — A movie crew turned back the clock in Central Square to the mid-20th century Tuesday morning as police diverted traffic away from the set of an HBO pilot production titled Julia, focused on the late renowned chef Julia Child.
Vintage Cadillacs and Thunderbirds cruised through downtown and extra cast members dressed in period clothing waited for their cues while police officers kept traffic detouring up Union Street and down Buffum Street.
The HBO Max drama series is slated to star Sarah Lancashire as Julia Child and David Hyde Pierce, known for his role on Frasier, as Julia’s husband, Paul Child, according to a Deadline report.
Written by Daniel Goldfarb and directed by Charles MacDougall, Julia is inspired by Julia Child’s life and her show, The French Chef, which essentially invented food television, according to Deadline.
The city’s center is no stranger to moviemakers with two movies filmed in and around Central Square in 2015. Jennifer Lawrence walks out of the old Daily Item building in one of the final scenes in Joy and Johnny Depp filmed a scene at Union and Buffum streets in Black Mass.
Downtown resident Susan Leach was happy to see Hollywood come to town and not surprised the city’s older buildings are once again serving as the supporting cast for a movie scene set a half century ago.
“The architecture is perfect for the setting. It’s great,” she said.
Not everyone was happy to find downtown streets detoured and parking blocked off.
The Item received several complaints about traffic and parking restrictions Tuesday morning, but Mayor Thomas M. McGee said complaints to the city and police were limited to one caller.
McGee said the business owner had contacted police because he or she was concerned about people being blocked from entering their store.
“Their concern was people weren’t going to be able to get to their business or (they) would be prevented from getting to that business,” said McGee. “When we got that call, we made sure they (were) connected directly with that production team.”
McGee said the business owner is working with the production teams, Bon Appetit Productions and Lionsgate, to mitigate any negative impacts caused by the filming.
Unlike past productions filmed in Lynn, which have included footage on city property, McGee said the city will not receive a profit from Julia, as filming is taking place on public streets.
In past years, when filming took place at Lynn Woods and Thurgood Marshall Middle School, the city was compensated, McGee said.
But the production company for Julia is covering all of the related expenses for their filming in Lynn, such as street signage alerting motorists to the times traffic will be impacted, police details and flyers, McGee said.
And James Cowdell, Economic Development & Industrial Corporation of Lynn executive director, said he is charging the production company $1,000 each day, from Tuesday to Thursday, to rent an area of the Blossom Street parking lot.
McGee said filming for various movies and TV shows has been taking place in Lynn since at least 2008. Production teams have “been really great with communicating with residents and business owners that are affected,” in past years, he said, noting that location managers reach out to the city and private property owners frequently when they are interested in filming.
“(We) have welcomed the filming in the city,” said McGee, noting that the people involved frequent local businesses and use local catering while on location.
“It’s been a real positive for the community. Lynn is a location they like to use. Seeing the city of Lynn in movies has been really positive.”
