New York City Filming Report Surfaces For ‘Burn After Reading’ With Pitt, Clooney

Following my Aug. 30, 2007 report on the Joel and Ethan Coen film “Burn After Reading,” a reader on Sunday wrote in with new filming details.

They are shooting today (Sunday, Sept. 23) literally across the street from my apartment.

They have slightly doctored the area around Grant’s Tomb (the General Grant National Memorial site).

One of the crew told us they would be filming up and down Riverside Drive including near Riverside Church and the International House. Riverside Drive runs along the west side of upper Manhattan.

Brad Pitt and George Clooney are on hand. My two children were fascinated by the many cars with Virginia license plates and the D.C. cabs, which are distinctive from their New York City cousins.

The film also features John Malkovich and Frances McDormand. IMDb describes the plot with these words:

A disk containing the memoirs of a CIA agent ends up in the hands of two unscrupulous gym employees who attempt to sell it.

3:26 p.m. update: After this post appeared, writer Shane Hazen of HollywoodChicago.com pointed out news from Friday, Sept. 21 announcing that Clooney suffered a broken rib in a New Jersey motorcycle accident.

Various reports questioned whether or not this would delay “Burn After Reading” filming.

8:39 p.m. update: Following this report, several additional people wrote me about Clooney’s current involvement in the project following his recent accident.

I followed up with my initial source for this report for more information. Daniel Tamulonis has given me permission to cite this information to his real name. In his follow-up e-mail to my question, he said:

As for Clooney, the technician who spoke to my children and me assured us that “it was nothing” and that Clooney would be taking part in the shoot.

As the day progressed (we were walking a neighbor’s dog and had several chances to witness what was going on), we saw rehearsals and then a car stunt involving Pitt.

There will be more shooting [on Monday] in front of the International House. We saw Pitt several times but not Clooney.

By ADAM FENDELMAN Editor-in-Chief HollywoodChicago.com adam@hollywoodchicago.com