A black Cadillac Escalade rolled slowly down barricaded Merchant Street Tuesday, stopping in front of the former K&N furniture store to drop off its passenger, actress Katherine Heigl, who took cover under a golf umbrella held by a man who shielded her as she briskly entered the building.
Lionsgate studio has strived to keep the paparazzi at bay during local filming of its action-comedy-drama “One for the Money.”
Still, dozens of spectators, mostly downtown Ambridge business owners, caught a glimpse of the normally blondish Heigl sporting a more Jerseylicious brown and bushy hairdo as required by her role as Stephanie Plum, the newly divorced, laid-off lingerie saleswoman-turned-bail-bondswoman who’s the heroine of the popular Janet Evanovich book series.
“One for the Money,” the first book in the series, is set in Trenton, N.J., which will be played in the movie by several western Pennsylvania towns, most notably Ambridge.
“This is the best thing to happen to Ambridge in a long time,” said Marlene Verigood, who a year ago bought a vacant Merchant Street storefront that’ll be used as the bail bonds office for a film that also features Debbie Reynolds, John Leguizamo and Daniel Sunjata from F/X’s “Rescue Me.”
Ambridge regulars might barely recognize the neighborhood, which has been given a Hollywood makeover.
There’s now a Stanczak’s fruit market, Bachetta Brothers Italian market, Slick Jim’s formal wear, Lucky’s Lounge and Chopstix Chinese restaurant, all of which will be gone when their phony facades are removed and the film crew packs up and leaves town.
“I’m keeping the canopy,” said Glenda Cockrum, owner of the Ambridge Theatre, which had its exterior converted to resemble the Chinese takeout joint. “I hope the stain washes out, because they put it in there on purpose.”
Similarly, the film’s art crew gave a weatherbeaten look to a large horizontal sign that says “Bernie’s” attached to the former K&N store. Heigl spent an hour inside that building Tuesday, shooting a scene after the cast and crew had dined on lunch at the rented-out Eagles Club blocks away.
Lunch included broiled fish with caviar, said Janet Caldarelli, an Ambridge resident and employee of the Beaver County clerk of courts office, who took a vacation day to appear as an extra. As requested, Caldarelli reported to work with two extra outfits, to appear in the background of street scenes possibly involving Heigl, who has starred in such movies as “27 Dresses” and “Knocked Up.”
Caldarelli figured she got the part because she previously served as an extra in the Sewickley-shot “House Guest” starring Sinbad, and the Mellon Arena-made “Sudden Death” with Jean-Claude Van Damme.
With her hair hidden in a scarf, Chippewa Township resident Jennifer Martin served as Heigl’s photo double.
“This is so much fun,” said Martin, who also was the double for Laura Linney in 2002’s “Mothman Prophecies,” likewise produced by Lionsgate.
As with “Mothman,” Lionsgate will film bridge footage in Kittanning, said unit publicist Michael Umble, who wasn’t aware until Tuesday of Ambridge’s rich bridge-making tradition.
Filming will continue today in Ambridge, a few blocks south on Merchant at a storefront that’s been overhauled to resemble a busy butcher’s shop.
And then life will return to normal in downtown Ambridge, though residents and business owners hope the movie will leave a positive impact.
“This will be a shot in the arm for Ambridge,” said former borough Councilman John Ivancik, a spectator Tuesday.
“They’re spending money here,” Ivancik said. “I spoke with the film’s construction crew, and they said they bought wood supplied by businesses around here.”
Cockrum hopes to get an autographed photo of Heigl to hang in the lobby of her one-screen independent movie theater. After 41 years of movies screening there, the last 12 under Cockrum’s watch, it would be nice to see the theater appear in a movie, she said, even if it’s disguised as a Chinese restaurant.
Cockrum said, “I just hope the movie is a success, and they come back to film the second book.”
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