Paulsboro to go Hollywood for special movie screening

PAULSBORO — Kyle Lee can see the writing already.

“I’ll probably make a few shirts and hats that say, ‘I was in Jersey Girl,’ ” the 13-year-old said of his role as an extra in the Kevin Smith movie, which opens in theaters nationwide March 26. “It was in our town … It’s an experience I won’t forget.”

With the film’s release around the corner and a local advance screening March 10 at the Paulsboro High School auditorium — where a major movie scene takes place — the community may get to see Lee, his younger brother and parents in action alongside stars Ben Affleck, Liv Tyler, George Carlin and Raquel Castro.

His mother, Jean Lee, said she turned up wherever scenes were shot during the three-month filming in 2002.

“I was like the movie stalker because it was being shot in Paulsboro,” Jean Lee said with a laugh, adding that she wouldn’t miss its local debut. “I’ve had it marked on my calendar.”

Mayor John Burzichelli said he’s happy to roll out the red carpet — literally — for a yet-to-be-determined list of dignitaries, including writer/director Kevin Smith.

“I’m gonna find one somewhere,” Burzichelli said of the proverbial Hollywood essential. “Remember, we’re in show business.”

Burzichelli said BP is covering the estimated $10,000 cost to transform the 689-seat auditorium into a theater, featuring state-of-the-art sound and projection.

Although she plays a mourner in Jersey Girl, 16-year-old Rosanne Henderson of West Deptford said she’s ecstatic about the movie’s opening.

“I like to brag about it to my friends,” Henderson said of her scene with Affleck, Jason Biggs and Carlin. “Definitely we’re going to get a big group of people and go see it.”

The mayor, who makes a brief appearance in the movie, said he has not decided yet how he will arrive at the upcoming black-tie optional gala.

And, he remains tight-lipped about the possibility for a star-studded Paulsboro premiere.

“We’re not in a position to confirm who will be in attendance,” Burzichelli said. “I don’t want someone to buy a ticket thinking there’s a guarantee that someone’s going to be there.”

Tickets will go on sale Saturday — for Paulsboro residents only — from the ticket window of Hill Studio, 35 W. Broad St., from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m.

Cost ranges from $25 to $50, with all proceeds benefiting the Paulsboro Boys and Girls Club. Burzichelli said he expects to raise about $22,000 for the self-sustaining youth organization.

Judy MacKenzie, event chairwoman, said donating to the club was a no-brainer.

“Jennifer Lopez learned how to dance at a Boys and Girls Club,” MacKenzie said of the diva, who has a small part in the film. “That just seemed to be a place that would be appealing to everyone.”

Sam DeSimone, Paulsboro Boys and Girls Club chairman of the board of directors, said the club has not determined how funds will be used, but said they could come in handy for ongoing basement upgrades.

“We’re moving along and we’re really proud of the club,” DeSimone said.

IF YOU GO

Writer/Director Kevin Smith will introduce a special advance screening of Miramax Films’ Jersey Girl March 10 at 7:00 p.m. at the Paulsboro High School Auditorium, 622 North Delaware Street.

Screening for the PG-13 movie is recommended for adults only.

Tickets go on sale Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. for Paulsboro residents only and cost $25 to $50, for balcony, mezzanine and orchestra sections. Purchases can be made at Hill Studio, 35 West Broad Street in Paulsboro.

Tickets-buyers must show a license or other verification of their Paulsboro residency and will be limited to two tickets per person. Payment must be made by check or money order only, to “Boys & Girls Club of Paulsboro.”

Affleck, Lopez Wedding Scene Cut From Film

NEW YORK – A wedding scene with Ben Affleck (news) and Jennifer Lopez (news) has been scrapped from director Kevin Smith (news)’s upcoming “Jersey Girl,” according to Us Weekly magazine.

“I didn’t know if (it was right) to leave it in,” Smith is quoted as saying in the March 8 issue. “People might forget they’re watching a picture, like, `Wait, didn’t these two NOT get married?’”

Affleck and Lopez were supposed to have married last September, but abruptly postponed their lavish plans “due to the excessive media attention surrounding our wedding.” They have since ended their engagement.

“Jersey Girl” is set for release March 26.

Lopez Left Out of ‘Jersey Girl’ Trailer

Hollywood star Jennifer Lopez’s role in new Ben Affleck movie Jersey Girl has been ignored in the trailer – because studio bosses are worried cinema-goers will avoid another film starring the Gigli pair.

Jersey Girl is being released in America on March 26 and although Lopez makes an appearance, she is absent from the movie’s poster campaign and only appears for a split second in the trailer. The Kevin Smith comedy stars Affleck as a publicist married to Lopez, who dies early in the film. But Miramax, the studio releasing Jersey Girl, insists the decision to cut J.Lo out of the marketing campaign is consistent with her tiny role in the movie, and has nothing to do with last year’s mega-flop Gigli. Miramax’s Amanda Lundberg tells website Pagesix, “She’s not the star of the movie and the marketing materials reflect her role in the film.”

FDA warns against ‘Green Hornet’

Ingredients in ‘herbal Ecstasy’ could cause seizures

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a warning on Wednesday against a liquid product being sold under the names “Green Hornet” or herbal Ecstasy, saying it contained potentially dangerous drugs.

Kevin appeared in studio to do a spot on the Sarah and No Name morning show. Nothing major to report as far as Green Hornet (mainly discussed his nerves over the budget, trying to get Master Woo Ping to choreograph, etc.) or Jersey Girl (usual opening date, etc.) are concerned, but there were a couple of humorous moments to note:

1) Sarah told Kevin he was a control freak. Kevin responded with, “oh and how do you know? you’ve known me for all of 4 minutes?” and she told him she just thought so because he directs and edits all of his films, and he laughed and said “that’s why i’m a control freak!”

2) Every celebrity guest removes a piece from an Operation board game and signs it. Kevin was given the Writer’s Cramp to remove.

3) A caller phoned in to praise Kevin on his Prince story from the Evening…DVD. Sarah and No Name (the Alice hosts) had never heard the story and asked him to re-tell it. He told them it was way to long, like 40 minutes long. They begged for the shortened version to which Kevin responded, “Prince is Crazy.” It was hilarious!

4) A new addition to the Sarah and No Name morning show is an in studio Karaoke machine, and they try to get guests to perform something when they show up in studio. Kevin agreed to do “Dead or Alive” in true Jersey fashion. He really got into it and it was funny as hell, but the cd started skipping so he had trouble keeping up with it.

5) Kevin will be doing an appearance in Berkeley, CA at the end of March.

1. Perpetual Smith target (and just ridiculously sexy) Ben Affleck appears on a billboard for what fictional film in “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back”?

2. We think he got Justin Timberlake to sing the theme. What is the name of Cardinal Glick’s campaign to raise interest in the Catholic Church in “Dogma”?

3. Randal, champion of the working man. In “Clerks,” who is Randal concerned most about after witnessing the destruction of the Death Star in “Return of the Jedi”?

4. In “Chasing Amy,” fashion plate Banky sports the insignia of what comic character on his shirt?

5. Name the two books (one for Marvel, one for DC) that Smith was set to write but never got around to even completing an issue.

I based his expression on the look Jay gives Randal in J&SBSB while Randal is trying to shoo them away. Yes, he really is wearing both the “Berzerker” and Quik Stop employee shirt, plus the yellow jacket. All three are removable, but the pants are not, so no mooning the cops! Thanks to the Stash’s site for showing clear images of the Dealer Union Cards so I could shrink one down for Mini Jay. I failed to finish this in time to present to Mr. Mewes at the second Stash Bash, but I’ll keep trying!

Early look at ‘Jersey Girl’ shows Paulsboro has big role

By Jeanette Tallant

On a quiet, tree-lined street in Paulsboro stands a pale yellow Cape Cod house — a dwelling that, like many others of little significance, has gone unnoticed for several years.

Who could have guessed that quaint home would give Paulsboro — and Gloucester County –its on-screen debut in a major motion picture?

The movie “doesn’t happen without it,” said Paulsboro’s Mayor John Burzichelli of the house on Thompson Avenue, “and we don’t have a street named ‘Kevin Smith Way.’ “

The movie he’s referring to is Kevin Smith’s “Jersey Girl,” the second film to feature the now-defunct Hollywood couple Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez. “Jersey Girl” was shot in Paulsboro over a three-month period in 2002.

According to Steve Granados, director of Burzichelli’s Hill Theatre Studio in Paulsboro, art director Robert “Ratface” Holtzman knew what type of house he wanted for the film’s central set long before the shooting began. He looked all over New Jersey

and was about to move the shoot to Canada when he came across the Thompson Avenue home.

The rest, as they say, is cinematic history.

The people of Paulsboro should be proud to know that this house, along with a few other Paulsboro dwellings, are among the very first images magnified on the big screen in the final cut of “Jersey Girl,” which is due in theaters March 19.

“It was wonderful to see the whole experience and then see it on the screen,” Granados said Friday after a Philadelphia preview screening of the movie. “This was so much more dramatic.”

The film is set in small working class town called Highlands, N.J. It opens with a classroom scene shot inside the Loudenslager School, portrayed in the film as a Catholic school.

In the film, the hometown corner bar is called Clamdiggers, a name the movie crew painted on the side of the small tavern and promised to remove –until the owner decided to display it next to the original name.

“I think Clamdiggers has a new life in front of it,” Burzichelli said of Fiorile’s.

Other than the house on Thompson Avenue, the bar is the most photographed Paulsboro establishment in the movie. It’s also where the final scene takes place.

In real life, a pool table occupies the spot in Fiorile’s where Affleck and Lopez’s characters once slow danced to the music of Al Green.

After the filming wrapped, hometown regulars took back their seats at the bar where — in the movie — George Carlin and his buddies sit and sip their beer.

But the folks who frequent Fiorile’s said the Hollywood treatment of their favorite watering hole hasn’t changed a thing.

“It’s very surprising that they picked it, but it’s not surprising in the sense that it’s a very, very, nostalgic bar,” said Randy Brown, who grew up in Paulsboro. “It’s just a place where you stop, you have a drink and a sandwich and go. You’ll meet people from Paulsboro here.”

Paulsboro schools are also prominently featured in the movie –images from Loudenslager and Paulsboro High School are combined to make the Catholic elementary school attended by Affleck’s movie daughter, who is played by young Raquel Castro.

Inside Paulsboro High School, the bold red seats and thick red curtain of the school auditorium — where Affleck, Castro, Carlin and Liv Tyler grace the stage for a family talent show — also made the final cut, as did Borough Hall.

In one scene with Affleck pitted against his Highlands neighbors, he stands at the front of a room in Borough Hall and addresses an angry crowd –some of whom are Paulsboro residents. While Affleck speaks, serious-looking men sit behind him listening intently. Many Gloucester County viewers will recognize these non-speaking characters from their real-life roles as Paulsboro officials –Mayor Burzichelli; several Paulsboro councilmen; and Gloucester County Democratic Party Chairman Michael Angelini, the municipal solicitor in Paulsboro.

So, how’s the flick?

“It’s fun,” Burzichelli said. “I think people are going to enjoy what they see, and they’re going to have a lot of fun picking out people they know.”

Municipal Administrator John Salvatore helped Smith and his crew scout locations for various scenes, including the bar and the schools. He probably has the best eye for what didn’t make the movie.

Scenes shot at the Paulsboro lighthouse were left on the cutting room floor, he said. So was a wedding scene showing Affleck and Lopez on the steps of St. John’s Church, which might have become the only time America would see them together in wedding attire.

In the end, as the screen fades to black and the credits roll, Paulsboro and its residents get their due in a big thank you to the mayor, the borough, and the people of Paulsboro.

Burzichelli said he hopes to hold a Paulsboro screening of “Jersey Girl” sometime in March, giving the many residents who stood on the sidelines and watched, and those who were lucky enough to get roles as extras, a chance to see –in their hometown –the movie that was made in their hometown.

Benefits accrue from ‘Bennifer’

The reviews are in. Paulsboro is very much in the much-awaited Kevin Smith-directed movie, “Jersey Girl,” which was partially filmed in the borough.

A totally unbiased preview audience (it included Mayor John Burzichelli and borough Administrator John Salvatore) was totally “thumbs up” concerning the way Paulsboro looks in the Ben Affleck-Jennifer Lopez picture, and how much screen time the borough gets.

That would be considerably more screen than one scene that remains entirely on the cutting-room floor, our preview spies report. A wedding scene involving the two co-stars, who are no longer star-crossed lovers in real life, was not in the version of “Jersey Girl” screened last week. Wonder whose idea that was?

Sorry. We forgot for a moment that this is the editorial page, not the celebrity gossip page. But the latest dish is that even though snipping out the wedding scene nixed some views of the steps of St. John’s Church, there are still plenty of local landmarks that audiences can see. Included are the Loudenslager School, and some of its inhabitants, and Fiorile’s Bar, known in the movie, and perhaps hereafter, as “Clamdiggers.”

A Clamdiggers’ sign from the 2002 filming remains on the tavern, which is perhaps poised to take full advantage of the kind of publicity that turned a once-obscure Boston pub called the Bull&Finch into “Cheers.”

It would be great if Paulsboro and its citizens can find other ways to capitalize on the March 19 wide release of “Jersey Girl,” even though, in the movie, the borough is a stand-in for a Central Jersey shore town.

The box-office success of “Jersey Girl” is not assured, but the sneak peeks show us Paulsboro is on screen more than long enough for the borough and its residents to have a boffo opportunity to shine.

As the guy who will host the Academy Awards next Sunday used to say:

“You look mahh-velous.”

First off, the film has made the TOP of the list at the movies.com “buzz bin”, listing TBA 2005 as a release.

Hollywood.com reports a blurb on the announcement HERE.

The Fletch Won fansite has an idea for the role of Kato in their latest news brief.