Paramount film wraps up shooting in the area

If you've been walking around the city during the past 11 days, you may end up seeing yourself on the silver screen in March.

Shooter, a new film by Paramount Pictures, finished filming in Philadelphia yesterday. Several scenes were shot in Penn's backyard.

Though no Penn buildings were filmed intentionally, the crew shot on Sansom Street Sunday between 41st and 43rd streets. White trailers lined much of Walnut Street from Sunday through Monday, and the block was crowded with those associated with the film. While some chatted aggressively into cell phones on the sidewalk, others carted equipment between the trailers or applied makeup in them, doors left open to the breeze.

Security guards stood by through set through the night.

Shooter is about a retired marksman who is called back to work to solve an assassination plot against the president, according to movie information Web site imdb.com.

Actor Mark Wahlberg, who played the lead in the Disney film Invincible - also shot in Philadelphia, and partially in Franklin Field - stars in the film along with Danny Glover.

While much of the movie takes place in Philadelphia, a majority of scenes were filmed in Vancouver, B.C., said Nicole Shiner, assistant to the executive director for the Greater Philadelphia Film Office.

"They came to Philadelphia to film a few crucial scenes," Shiner said, adding that she believed some of the film is also being shot in Washington, D.C.

And as a result, the crew brought some "brotherly love" to Canada, specifically through its re-creation of Philadelphia's Independence Hall for the pivotal assassination scene in the movie.

"There were 1,100 extras," said Don Weston, a production assistant for the film. "It was a bit of a mess."

Some Penn students were so oblivious to the Philadelphia filming, production assistant Nick Menio said, that they too may have become extras.

"A couple Penn girls got in the background," he said.

Wharton sophomore Vas Natarajan, who lives at 4040 Walnut St., said that he could see white movie trailers parked on the block, but he was not too affected by them.

"They sort of snuck up on us," Natarajan said.

He added that he knew nothing about the film itself.

"Mark Wahlberg? He's here?" Natarajan said, after hearing about the actor's presence on campus.

At Lee's Hoagie House, also located on the 4000 block of Walnut Street, the staff was equally uninformed about what was going on.

"I heard from some friends that Mark Wahlberg was signing autographs earlier, but that's about it," employee Chris Dean said.

Shiner said that West Philadelphia is often a popular place for filming, due in part to the proximity between an energized campus and more residential areas.

"There is a lot of diversity in West Philadelphia," Shiner said. "In West Philadelphia, you can go from a university setting to row homes all in a matter of four blocks, for example."

The crew also shot at locations in South Philadelphia and Kensington, Weston said.

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